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DTA (.dta)

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Background & Context

    • MIME type: application/x-stata-dta
    • Stata database transport format.
    • Legacy data exchange format.
    • Stores numerical datasets in a portable format.
    • Binary format.
    • Initially developed in 1985 by StataCorp.

Import & Export

  • Import["file.dta"] imports a DTA file, returning all datasets arranged as a table.
  • DTA data is represented in the Wolfram Language by real or integer numbers, strings, Boolean values True and False, and DateObject specifications.
  • Import["file.dta",elem] imports the specified element from a DTA file.
  • Import["file.dta",{elem,suba,subb,…}] imports a subelement.
  • The import format can be specified with Import["file","DTA"] or Import["file",{"DTA",elem,…}].
  • Export["file.dta",expr] creates a DTA file from expr.
  • Supported expressions expr include:
  • {v1,v2,…}a single column of data
    {{v11,v12,…},{v21,v22,…},…}lists of rows of data
    arrayan array such as SparseArray, QuantityArray, etc.
    tseriesa TimeSeries, EventSeries or TemporalData object
    Dataset[…]a dataset
    Tabular[…]a tabular object
    <|"name1"expr1,…|>an association of named columns
  • Import and Export support the following data types:
  • "Date"date and time specifications
    "Integer8"8-bit integers
    "Integer16"16-bit integers
    "Integer32"32-bit integers
    "Real32"IEEE single‐precision numbers
    "Real64"IEEE double‐precision numbers
    "String"string of characters
  • See the following reference pages for full general information:
  • Import, Exportimport from or export to a file
    CloudImport, CloudExportimport from or export to a cloud object
    ImportString, ExportStringimport from or export to a string
    ImportByteArray, ExportByteArrayimport from or export to a byte array

Import Elements

  • General Import elements:
  • "Elements" list of elements and options available in this file
    "Summary"summary of the file
    "Rules"list of rules for all available elements
  • Data representation elements:
  • "Data"two-dimensional array
    "Dataset"table data as a Dataset
    "LabeledData"association of labels and data
    "LabeledRawData"association of labels and raw data
    "Tabular"table data as a Tabular object
  • Import by default uses the "Data" element.
  • Data descriptor elements:
  • "ColumnDescriptions"description and types of columns
    "Labels"names of columns
    "MissingValues"values to be considered missing per column
  • Metadata elements:
  • "ByteOrdering"endianness of the data
    "CharacterEncoding"character encoding of the file
    "Comments"comments on the file
    "Compression"type of compression used in the file
    "CreationDate"creation date of the document, given as a DateObject
    "Dimensions"dimensions of the data
    "MetaInformation"metadata given as strings and date objects
    "MissingValues"values to be considered missing per column
    "ModificationDate"modification date of the document, given as a DateObject
    "TableName"name of the entire table
    "Version"version of the SAS specification for the file

Options

  • Import options:
  • "ColumnDefaultValues"Automaticassociation of column names and default values
    "TypeDefaultValues"Automaticassociation of types and default values
  • Export options:
  • "ColumnDescriptions"Automaticlist of descriptions for each column
    "MetaInformation"Automaticassociation of metadata tags and values
  • Possible settings for "ColumnDescriptions" include:
  • {"label1", "label2", …}list of strings giving column names
    {assoc,…}list of associations giving column metadata
    <|colassoc|>association of index or column name and column metadata
  • Possible keys for assoc include:
  • "Name"string giving the column's name
    "Description"string giving the column's description
    "Type"string giving the column's type
  • Possible keys for "MetaInformation" include:
  • "Comments"string giving general comments on the file
    "CreationDate"date object giving the creation date of the file
    "ModificationDate"date object giving the modification date of the file
    "TableName"string giving the name of the entire table
    "Version"integer giving the version of the file

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)Summary of the most common use cases

Import a DTA file:

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In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-f3zba1
Direct link to example
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Summary of a DTA file:

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In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-jorcfv
Direct link to example
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Export an array of expressions to a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-t64ayh
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

Import the resulting file:

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In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-lfzmgr
Direct link to example
Out[2]=2

Scope  (9)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Import  (3)

Import all available elements:

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In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-6rk6nf
Direct link to example
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Import data:

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In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-7u7lw9
Direct link to example
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Import as a Tabular object:

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In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-zvfkuo
Direct link to example
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Export  (6)

Export a Dataset:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-nymkfr
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Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-c2e4vv
Direct link to example

Column names are automatically inferred:

Copy to clipboard.
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-w6cl5m
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Out[3]=3

Export an array of data:

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In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-67nm6u
Direct link to example
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Column names are automatically generated:

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In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-k8h2kn
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Export an association of named columns:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-bd3kmi
Direct link to example
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Column names are automatically inferred:

Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-m2dh74
Direct link to example
Out[2]=2

Export a TimeSeries:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-byvcsb
Direct link to example
Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-dhklb2
Direct link to example
Out[2]=2
Copy to clipboard.
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-pbot5s
Direct link to example
Out[3]=3

Times are stored in the first column, values in the second:

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In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-n5f84h
Direct link to example
Out[4]=4

Export tagged missing data:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-7ff2si
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1
Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-e4bnr8
Direct link to example
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Ragged arrays are automatically padded on the right and converted to full arrays:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-fyo5zt
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1
Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-s6tjg7
Direct link to example
Out[2]=2

Import Elements  (15)

Data Representation  (5)

"Data"  (1)

Import a DTA file as a 2D list of values:

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In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-nl71bm
Direct link to example
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This is also the default element:

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In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-y6nmcj
Direct link to example
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"Dataset"  (1)

Import a DTA file as a Dataset:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-sya0vk
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"LabeledData"  (1)

Import a DTA file as an association of labels and data:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-qubbnp
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"LabeledRawData"  (1)

Import a DTA file as an association of labels and raw data:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-b8bqb6
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"Tabular"  (1)

Import a DTA file as a Tabular:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-3ossbj
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

Data Descriptors  (3)

"ColumnDescriptions"  (1)

Import associations giving the name, description and type for each column in a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-xf419t
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"Labels"  (1)

Import the names of each column in a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-bartxa
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"MissingPositions"  (1)

Import associations giving the positions of missing values by column:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-7i03ic
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

Metadata  (7)

"ByteOrdering"  (1)

Import the byte ordering stored in the metadata of a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-8wnspu
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"Comments"  (1)

Import comments stored in the metadata of a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-x2uaav
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"CreationDate"  (1)

Import the creation date:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-t2g8i8
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"Dimensions"  (1)

Import the data dimensions:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-62lf19
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"MetaInformation"  (1)

Import an association of all the metadata stored in a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-en8233
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"ModificationDate"  (1)

Import the modification date:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-p009d1
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

"Version"  (1)

Import the version of a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-8dqxq
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

Import Options  (2)

"ColumnDefaultValues"  (1)

Missing numerical values are replaced with zero by default:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-n5ii94
Direct link to example

Use "ColumnDefaultValues" to specify a different default value for specific columns:

Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-dgadw6
Direct link to example

"TypeDefaultValues"  (1)

Missing numerical values are replaced with zero by default:

Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-upa1l6
Direct link to example

Use "TypeDefaultValues" to specify a different default value for specific types:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-md0rn7
Direct link to example

Export Options  (2)

"ColumnDescriptions"  (1)

Export different data types:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-62u9lb
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

Columns will automatically infer types based on the data given:

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In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-xwddl4
Direct link to example
Out[2]=2

Use "ColumnDescriptions" to specify column types and descriptions:

Copy to clipboard.
In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-la95ti
Direct link to example
Out[3]=3

Import the resulting column descriptions:

Copy to clipboard.
In[4]:=4
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-6gupky
Direct link to example
Out[4]=4

"MetaInformation"  (1)

Retrieve the metadata from a DTA file:

Copy to clipboard.
In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-nsjlm4
Direct link to example
Out[1]=1

Export a new file with the same metadata:

Copy to clipboard.
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-7pewnv
Direct link to example
Out[2]=2
Copy to clipboard.
In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0qn77l5fk-j0kjjx
Direct link to example
Out[3]=3