In this post we’ll look at some tips to get the most out of the Stata help. In order to use Stata effectively it’s crucial to get a good handle of the documentation, as it is quite comprehensive.
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Like most software documenation Stata’s help follows a structured layout. As soon as you familiarize yourself with this layout, you can get whatever information you need faster. Normally, there’s some description of the command, the syntax (including options), a more detailed description, some examples, and any related references, further reading or trivia.
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Make a habit of using help often in order to get good at it. If you’re not sure about a particular syntax or a command type help command_name in the console to display its associated documentation. Ie:
help regress-
If you have a more broader topic or concept in mind rather than a command specify search terms to enhance the possibilities of finding a relevant result. For instance, use help regress postestimation rather than just help regress. If help can’t find a direct result it automatically performs a search on your behalf.
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If you already know you wont get a direct hit using the help command you can use The search command. This command searches all help files, FAQs, manuals, and other documents:
search logit-
There are useful examples associated with each help file. This is really helpful as you can quickly get a practical understanding of how a command works.
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In order to view the source code of a command, there is the viewsource command. Running this will show you the underlying ado-file of the command. For example:
viewsource ml.adoWe’ll look more at the viewsource command in another post.
- The help files will also contain details about the procedures, any mathematical details, and how to interpret the output of the command.
Personally i really like the accessibility of the Stata help, to be able to get to it directly from the console is a great advantage in my opinion.