Q. When I go to the Start menu in Windows and click on Stat/Transfer, I see something called Stat/Transfer Command Processor.  What is it?

A. The Stat/Transfer Command Processor is a separate program that lets you transfer files without using the menu system, but rather through simple commands.  It can be invaluable if you have a large number of repetitive transfers or if you wish to do batch transfers.  Check the manual for complete details.

Q. I have an Access database with over one hundred tables.  I want to convert these all to Stata files.  What is the easiest way to do this.

A. First create a directory for your output files (out, for example).  Then enter the command processor from the Start menu or your applications folder. If your input file is in c:\data\in.mdb (assuming a Windows machine) and your new output directory was c:\data\out, you could use the command

         copy   c:\data\in.mdb  c:\data\out\*.dta  /t*

The ‘/t*’ modifier in this command tells Stat/Transfer to copy all of the tables from in.mdb to the destination out.  The output files will be automatically named with the name of the table and the extention .dta.

Q. I have fifty dBASE files I would like to move to SAS, what is the easiest way t do this?

A. Assuming your dBASE files are in c:\data\dbase and you would like your output in c:\data\sas, you can do this in a single command:

         copy   c:\data\sas\*.dbf   c:\data\sas\*.sas7bdat

Q. The menu system has lots of options. The command processor just has that blank prompt.  How do I set some options in there?

A. You can do anything in the command processor that you can do in the menus. You’ll have to read the manual to find out just how to do it.  To set options, you use the ‘set’ command.  Other commands are available to select variables and control their types.

Q. How do I set my options permanently so that I don't have to enter ‘set’ commands every time I start up the command processor.

A. Put your ‘set’ commands in a file called profile.stc, located in the same directory as Stat/Transfer.

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