CEU MicroData Stata Style Guide
Description
Files
Use forward slash in path names
Write save "data/worker.dta"
, not save "data\worker.dta"
. The former works on all three major platforms, the latter only on Windows.
Write out file extensions
Write save "data/worker.dta"
and do "regression.do"
, not save "data/worker"
or do "regression"
. Even though some extensions are appended by Stata by default, it is better to be explicit to help future readers of your code.
Put file paths in quotes
Write save "data/worker.dta"
and do "regression.do"
, not save data/worker.dta
or do regression
. Both are correct, but the first is more readable, as most editors readily highlight strings as separate from programming statements.
Use relative path whenever possible
Write save "../data/worker.dta"
, not save "/Users/koren/Tresorit/research/data/worker.dta
. Nobody else will have the same absolute path as you have on your system. Adopt a convention of where you are running scripts from and make paths relative to that location.
Naming
Do not abbreviate commands
Use generate ln_wage = ln(wage)
and summarize ln_wage, detail
, not g ln_wage = ln(wage)
or su ln_wage, d
. Both will work, because Stata allows you abbreviation, but the former is more readable.
Do not abbreviate variable names
Use summarize ln_wage, detail
, not summarize ln_w, detail
. Both will work, because Stata allows you abbreviation, but the latter is very error prone. In fact, you can turn off variable name abbreviation with set varabbrev off, permanent
.
Use verbose names to the extent possible
Use egen mean_male_wage = mean(wage) if gender == "male"
, not egen w1 = mean(wage) if gender == "male"
. Your variables should be self documenting. Reserve variable labeling to even more verbose explanations, including units: label variable mean_male_wage "Average wage of male workers (2011 HUF)"
.
Separate name components with underscore
Use egen mean_male_wage = mean(wage) if gender == "male"
, not egen meanmalewage = mean(wage) if gender == "male"
or egen meanMaleWage = mean(wage) if gender == "male"
. The former is more readable. Transformations like mean, log should be part of the variable name.
Do not put units and time in the variable name
Use revenue
, not revenue_USD
or revenue_2017
. Record this information in variable labels, though. You will change your code and your data and you don't want this detail to ruin your entire code.
It is ok to use short macro names in short code
If you have a foreach
loop with a few lines of code, it is fine to use a one-character variable name for indexing: foreach X of variable wage mean_male_wage {
. But if you have longer code and X
would pop up multiple times, give it a more verbose name.
It is ok to use obvious abbreviation in variable names
If you are hard pressed against the 32-character limit of variable name length, use abbreviation that will be obvious to everyone seeing the code. Use generate num_customer
, not generate number_of_customers_of_the_firm
or generate n_cust
.
White space
Include a space around all binary operators
Use generate ln_wage = ln(wage)
and count if gender == "male"
, not generate ln_wage=ln(wage)
or count if gender=="male"
. The former is more readable.
Include a space after commas in function calls
Use assert inlist(gender, "male", "female")
not assert inlist(gender,"male","female")
. The former is more readable.
Indent code that belongs together
foreach X of variable wage mean_male_wage {
summarize `X', detail
scalar `X'_median = r(p50)
}
not
foreach X of variable wage mean_male_wage { summarize `X', detail scalar `X'_median = r(p50) }
Each .do file should be shorter than 120 lines
Longer scripts are much more difficult to read and understand by others. If your script is longer, break it up into smaller components by creating several .do files and calling them.
Files
Stata style guide - Handbook.pdf
Files
(67.2 kB)
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Additional details
Related works
- Is derived from
- Software documentation: https://handbook.microdata.io/onboarding/stata-style-guide (URL)