Re: st: merge error - not Stata format

[Sergiy Radyakin <serjradyakin@gmail.com>]

June, that would be a very serious flaw with Stata, but likely the
problem is somewhere else.

1) dataset1 is obviously in the correct format, but check dataset2 by
simply -use-ing it.
perhaps someone has changed it without your knowledge.

2) try to merge using old syntax;

3) check if the reported file exists, and see what it contains;

4) make sure there is no software installed on the system that can
block access to files (antivirus is a candidate).

5) "I've used the same code before without a problem", so what
changed? Stata updated? Data files changed? system changed?

Otherwise not that many suggestions. What you quote is legit Stata
syntax, which should work based on the manual. The error message seems
to be thrown by a built-in, so nobody except StataCorp would be in the
position to investigate. However, note that merge is partially visible
(merge.ado exists). So setting trace on should at least tell us the
major code block where an error occurs.

Best, Sergiy Radyakin

On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 2:06 PM, June Bridge <junebridge25@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've run into a problem trying to merge two data sets.  Both are in
> stata format (dta files), but when I try to merge them, like this:
>
> use dataset1.dta
> merge m:1 id year using dataset2.dta
>
> I get an error message like this:
> file /projectfolder/temp/St90704.00000b not Stata format
>
> It seems like one of the temp files that is created during the merge
> is somehow in the wrong format? The strange thing is, this only
> started happening yesterday - I've used the same code before without a
> problem. Has anyone faced this problem before? Any idea how to fix it?
> Is there any other information that could help?
>
> As as FYI, I'm using Stata MP 12.1, accessing it through my university
> (on Linux).  I've also reached out to my university's IT department
> for help, but I thought I'd ask here too in case somebody else has run
> into this problem in the past.
>
> Thanks so much,
> June
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