help csvconvert
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title

        csvconvert - module for gathering multiple comma-separated values
                (.csv) files into one single Stata (.dta) dataset.


Syntax

        csvconvert input_directory [, options]

        Note: all .csv files must be placed in the same directory;
                input_directory is the directory where the .csv files must be
                stored.


    options                          Description
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      output_file(file_name)         file_name is the name of the .dta file;
                                       default is "output.dta".
      output_dir(output_directory)   output_directory is the directory where
                                       the output file is saved; default is
                                       input_directory.
      input_file(.csv file list)     names of the .csv files placed in
                                       input_directory to be converted; you
                                       must specify the extension .csv for
                                       each file name included in the list
                                       (see examples below).  If this option
                                       is not specified, csvconvert takes
                                       into the process all the .csv files
                                       stored in input_directory.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Double quotes must NOT be used to enclose input_directory nor
    output_directory, even if the directory path contains spaces.


Description

        csvconvert appends a set of .csv files into one single file, which is
        saved in the .dta format, immediately readable into Stata.
        This command suits the case in which the researcher holds multiple
        data files differing by - for example - a period variable, typically
        year.

        By default, csvconvert creates a new variable, _csvfile, containing
        the name of the .csv file from which the observation originates.
        At the end of the process csvconvert displays a message with the
        number of the original .csv files that have been included in the .dta
        file.
        (this information can become useful to double check that all the .csv
        files have been converted into the .dta file).


Examples

    Donwload trail sample from my webpage and store the files in a directory
    you created - for example C:\Data\worldbank.

    Check that all the .csv files are in the same directory - in this example
    C:\Data\worldbank
        . dir C:\Data\worldbank\*.csv

    The following command creates the file output.dta and saves it in the
    directory C:\Data\worldbank
        . csvconvert C:\Data\worldbank

    The following command creates the file wb_data.dta and saves it in the
    directory C:\Data\wb dataset
        . csvconvert C:\Data\worldbank, output_file(wb_data.dta)
            output_dir(C:\Data\wb dataset)

    The following command includes in output.dta only the selected .csv files
    wb2008.csv and wb2009.csv
        . csvconvert C:\Data\worldbank, input_file(wb2008.csv wb2009.csv)

    Similar to the commands above: the files wb2008.csv and wb2009.csv are
    stored into wb_data.dta, which is saved in C:\Data\wb dataset
        . csvconvert C:\Data\worldbank, input_file(wb2008.csv wb2009.csv)
            output_file(wb_data.dta) output_dir(C:\Data\wb dataset)

Author

        Alberto A. Gaggero, University of Pavia, Italy
        alberto.gaggero@unipv.it

Also see

    Manual:  [D] append, [D] insheet

      Help:  [D] append, [D] insheet