Delete .dta file with Stata command

[Francois Durant]

Hi,

I would like to delete a *.dta file in my Stata code. How can I do that? Thanks

[Nick Cox]

help erase

[Francois Durant]

Thanks Nick. How can I code "erase if the file exists". I'm encountering the following error:

. erase publi_date_A_q_dta.dta
file publi_date_A_q_dta.dta not found

[Rich Goldstein]

help capture

[Francois Durant]

I have looked at the capture help file, but I'm not sure how to use it in this context. Can you help Rich?

[Bruce Weaver]

Try this, Francois. Change the folder definition if necessary.

clear
input  x
42
end
save C:\temp\junk

dir C:\temp\junk.dta
capture erase C:\temp\junk.dta
dir C:\temp\junk.dt
capture erase C:\temp\junk.dta
dir C:\temp\junk.dta
erase C:\temp\junk.dta

[William Lisowski]

You may find capture noisily a useful variant on capture, especially with commands that fail in more interesting ways than does erase.

. erase gnxl.dat
file gnxl.dat not found
r(601);

. capture erase gnxl.dat

. capture noisily erase gnxl.dat
file gnxl.dat not found

.

[Jesse Wursten]

Alternatively, manually program the error handling using capture confirm and if _rc == ... (where _rc is an internal stata macro(?) with the error return code)

clear all
set obs 10
gen x = 3
save junk.dta, replace

di _newline "Test on file that exists"

** Verify if file exists
capture confirm file junk.dta

** .. if it does, delete program
if _rc == 0 {
    di "File exists, deleting ..."
    erase junk.dta
}

** .. else, show error code (but continue)
else {
    capture noisily error _rc
    di "File keeps running though..."
}


di _newline "Test on file that doesn't"
capture confirm file junk.dta
if _rc == 0 {
    di "File exists, deleting ..."
    erase junk.dta
}

else {
    capture noisily error _rc
    di "File keeps running though..."
}

[daniel klein]

Just wanted to point out that any command that saves or creates a (new) file has a replace option, so I do not fully get the point of this discussion.

Best
Daniel

[William Lisowski]

From post #1

I would like to delete a *.dta file in my Stata code. How can I do that? Thanks

does not suggest to me a necessary desire to replace the existing file, only to delete it.

[daniel klein]

Well, given that every single answer that followed the initial one, given by Nick Cox, centers around ways to detect whether a (.dta) file exists and to erase it, if it does, and since I am not creative enough to come up with any reasonable explanation of why one would want to do that, I thought this might well be an example of the xy problem. Obviously, only Francois can really answer this.

I do see that people can learn from the posted code anyway, so no offense to anyone who has answered.

Edit: By the way, perhaps

help tempfile

could also be solution to the yet unknown problem of Francois.

Best
Daniel

[Bruce Weaver]

Well, given that every single answer that followed the initial one, given by Nick Cox, centers around ways to detect whether a (.dta) file exists and to erase it, if it does, and since I am not creative enough to come up with any reasonable explanation of why one would want to do that, I thought this might well be an example of the xy problem.

Nice page on the XY problem, Daniel. Perhaps a link to that should be included somewhere in the FAQ.

[William Lisowski]

In production systems that replace the output files, I may delete the output at the start of the run to preclude the old output being mistaken for the updated output if the process fails somewhere before the file gets replaced.

[daniel klein]

Nice page on the XY problem, Daniel. Perhaps a link to that should be included somewhere in the FAQ.

Actually, it is. See 9. Where may I look for other advice on posting technical questions?

In production systems that replace the output files, I may delete the output at the start of the run to preclude the old output being mistaken for the updated output if the process fails somewhere before the file gets replaced.

Makes sense.

Best
Daniel

[Atif Awad]

Dear Daniel
Many thanks for your support
Unfortunately, I received the following


. net install xtdcce221 , from("https://janditzen.github.io/xtdcce2/")
checking xtdcce221 consistency and verifying not already installed...

the following files already exist and are different:
c:\ado\plus\x\xtset2.sthlp
c:\ado\plus\x\xtcd2.ado
c:\ado\plus\x\xtcd2.sthlp
c:\ado\plus\x\xtcse2.ado
c:\ado\plus\x\xtcse2.sthlp
c:\ado\plus\x\xtdcce2_auxiliary.ado

no files installed or copied
(no action taken)
r(602);
What I have to do next? remove the existing files? how?
Regards