stata2mlwin.hlp.htm

Help file for the command stata2mlwin
-------------------------------------

Syntax
------

stata2mlwin using <stata data file> ,  [  replace clear nocons missing() ]


Options
-------

replace - Use to replace the existing file

clear -   Use to clear out the existing file in data

nocons -  Use to supress the creation of the var cons which 
            contains 1s (useful for creating a constant term in MLwiN).

missing() - Sets the code used for missing values in MLwiN.  By default, 
              missing values are coded as -12345, but you can change this
              with the missing() if you think that -12345 is a possible
              value for your data.  

Description
-----------

This file reads a Stata data file and creates an MLwiN program
(an obey file) that creates a corresponding MLwiN data file
complete with variable names and value labels.  By default, a variable
cons is includes which contains all 1s (unless you already have such
a variable or you use the nocons option).  You can then use 
this for including a constant in your MLwiN model.

Examples
--------

stata2mlwin using c:dataauto 

This reads the data file "auto.dta" from the c:data directory and
creates the file "auto.obe" which is an MLwiN obey file which can
then be executed in MLwiN, as follows.

From within MLwiN

Choose Data Manipulation -> Command Interface then at the command prompt type
  wipe
which clears out data from memory, if any.  Then type
  obey C:dataauto.obe
which runs the program to make the MLwiN data file,
saving it as C:dataauto.ws .

** Missing Data **
If you have any missing data, from within MLwiN
choose Options Worksheet then Numbers to tell it 
what values are missing (by default -12345, unless changed
with the missing() option).


Author(s)
---------

Michael N. Mitchell
Statistical Computing Group
UCLA, Academic Technology Services
mnmatucla.edu