STAT/TRANSFER

Contents:

Availability

Windows: Stat/Transfer is installed in the "special software" workstations in the Kellogg computing labs in the Jacobs Center and Wieboldt Hall.

Unix: Stat/Transfer 10 is available in Kellogg's Linux server, skew4.

Linux: Stat/Transfer 10 is available in "seldon", one of the hosts in the Social Science Computing Cluster.

Personal copies: Stat/Transfer can be purchased by Kellogg faculty, staff and students through the Stata GradPlan at a discounted price (other members of the Northwestern community please click here).

Stat/Transfer is a utility software that allows users to read and write datasets in different formats: SAS, Stata, Gauss, Matlab, SPSS, etc. A complete list of supported packages is available.

Vendor information

Circle Systems
1001 Fourth Avenue
Suite 3200
Seattle, WA 98154
Phone: (206) 682-3783 / (866) 386-3507
Fax: (206) 328-4788

Support

• Support web site: StatTransfer support
• E-mail: support@circlesys.com
• Phones: (206) 682-3783; (866) 386-3507

Running Stat/Transfer

Windows

In Kellogg's special software workstations, Stat/Transfer can be found under the Start menu (also under "All Programs" > "Special Software" > "StatTransfer"). See the links below for example of how to use this software.

Unix/Linux

In skew4 or seldon, you can run Stat/Transfer either from the command line or using Stat/Transfer's text mode program. To use it from the command line, specify the input and output files:

st input_file output_file

For example, to convert a Stata file into a SAS file:

st auto.dta auto.sas7bdat

You may encounter two issues:

1. If the target file (test.sas7bdat) already exists, Stat/Transfer will not overwrite. As a result, you will not get the prompt back. If you want to overwrite an existing file, you need to specify with the "-y" option: st auto.dta auto.sas7bdat -y
2. The default for Stat/Transfer is to write the files in 32-bit format. Both Kellogg's Linux server (skew4), and WRDS are 64-bit operating systems and run the corresponding 64-bit version of SAS. The 64-bit version of SAS can read 32-bit files, but will warn you ("NOTE: Data file X is in a format native to another host or the file encoding does not match the session encoding. Cross Environment Data Access will be used, which may require additional CPU resources and reduce performance."). To avoid this error, create a file called "profile.stc" in your home directory with the following line: set sas-outrep solaris_64. "profile.stc" will be read before translating any file.

To use Stat/Transfer's text mode interface, type "st" at the prompt. You will then see the Stat/Transfer prompt ("st> "). Using the same example as above, to convert a Stata file into a SAS file, the command would be:

cp auto.dta auto.sas7bdat

Type "quit" to end the program. At the Stat/Transfer prompt, you can also specify options.

Examples and solutions

FAQ from Circle Systems

Manuals available at Research Computing

Manual for Linux, version 10 (PDF)

Use the help files in the Windows version; type "help" at the Stat/Transfer prompt ("st>") in Linux.

Useful links

• DBMS/Copy: A similar utility available in Kellogg Unix server, skew3
• Stat/Transfer: File Conversion for PCs and UNIX (Columbia University)
• Tips on using Stat/Transfer (UCLA)