use13 gives an error 610 while converting a file

[ezik02]

Hey, I am Yulia. I have installed STATA 10.1 recently, installed use13 and used it as follows. I think mistake can be that the version of dataset is not stata13, could someone suggest on it?

use 13 "wws_happy_short.dta"

Converting file wws_happy_short.dta
unexpected text found: s ,instead of <stata_dta> _use13_fskipstr(): 610 file format error
_use13_convert(): - function returned error
use13(): - function returned error
<istmt>: - function returned error

[daniel klein]

Yulia,

please register with your full real name. If you really typed

use 13 "wws_happy_short.dta"

try

use13 "wws_happy_short.dta"

instead.

Otherwise, I guess Sergiy Radyakin will comment on this. He will ask where the file you are trying to open comes from. He will also ask whether it is possible to open the file with Stata 13. More questions you should try and answer can be found on his website: http://radyakin.org/transfer/use13/use13ts.htm.

Best
Daniel

[Nick Cox]

Sometimes if you try to type a file (type is a Stata command) or look at its header with hexdump it becomes obvious that you don't have a Stata .dta file at all.

[Sergiy Radyakin]

Based on the error message quoted, the file is not from Stata 13, but from Stata 12. (based on the letter "s" it is likely from Stata 12, specification 115).
The released version of use13 does not read older Stata files (prior to 13).
Yulia can use the SaveTo9 tool to convert this file to Stata 9 format:
http://www.radyakin.org/transfer/saveto9/cs/index.htm

or (given she mentioned using Stata 10) a use12 package would be better suited for her needs.

In general for Stata to Stata conversions consult the following reference page: http://radyakin.org/transfer/stata2stata/

Sorry for a much delayed response. Assign proper tags to ensure visibility: data import, conversion, transfer, version, etc.

Best regards, Sergiy Radyakin.

PS: unfortunately StataCorp didn't reserve the product description in the file, like some other file formats provide. So older versions of Stata can only say the file is too new and can't be opened. If the file format contained the minimal version of Stata to open the file, then older Stata's could be more informative and say something like: "This file can't be opened in Stata 10 because it was saved in a format by a newer version of Stata. Stata 12.0 or later is required to open the file.". Such analysis is possible with other tools or by inspecting the file header.