Re: st: Are Stata datasets platform-dependent?

[Sunil Kumar <stuff.sunil@googlemail.com>]

Dear RHS,

I'm using Stata 12 on a mac and have downloaded the stata-format files
from measuredhs.com and used them with no problem. So I don't think
this should present a problem.

Sunil

On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 5:57 PM, Rieza Soelaeman <rsoelaeman@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Stata list,
> SAS programmer here new to Stata [waves at the crowd in the room].
> I'm thinking about getting Stata for my personal computer (a mac) so I
> can do analysis of Measure DHS data (http://www.measuredhs.com) at
> home, and I was wondering whether it is true that Stata system files
> are platform dependent, as stated on the datasets description part of
> the DHS website (copied and pasted below, see *_*_*_* ).  DHS data are
> available as SAS, SPSS, Stata, and flat file format.  If the *_*_*_*
> part is true, would you then recommend using the flat file instead?
>
> Thanks,
> RHS
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> System File Formats (SPSS, SAS, STATA)
>
> The System File is a binary file that can be read quickly by the
> relevant statistical package.  We provide system files for three
> popular statistical analysis software packages: SPSS (SAV), SAS (SD2),
> and STATA (DTA). Each system file contains all the data and
> descriptive information required to define and use the data, including
> variable names, variable labels, value labels, missing values, etc.
> System files are the preferred format for these data files,
> particularly if the file is large, and if repeated analysis will be
> run using the same data file.
>
> The main advantages of using the system file (rather than an ASCII
> data file in conjunction with a syntax file) include faster processing
> time, not having to modify the syntax file to refer to the correct
> path of the data file, and the ease of saving changes. The main
> disadvantage is that system files are platform dependent.  *_*_*_* For
> example, the system files that we provide probably cannot be used on a
> Macintosh computer *_*_*_*.  While these have not been tested, it is
> more likely that the ASCII data and syntax files can be accessed on
> different platforms, but will probably require some modification by
> the user.
>
> Software packages:       SPSS Version 13 (SAV files)
>                                     SAS Version 6 (SD2)
>                                     STATA SE Version 7 (DTA)
>
> *
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> *   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>

*
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