Part of the do file suddenly changed to strange characters

[Weiwen Li]

The do file works well for a long period of time. Yesterday, I run the do file and save it on a laptop. Today, when I reopen the do file, the stata warmed that "the document is not encoded in UTF-8". I found that part of (around 270 lines) of the do files changed to strange characters. I also cannot used unicode translate to translate the do file into normal characters. I spent a whole day trying to figure out, but still cannot find a solution. What can I do now?

[Jesse Wursten]

Try opening the file with Notepad++ (different from the regular notepad). That program allows you to manually define the encoding. Play around a bit with the encoding options that make sense and with some luck it'll look normal in one of them. Then you might be able to copy what you get into a new dofile.

[Rich Goldstein]

I don't fully understand what your situation is or what software you used on this do file, but you may find the -filefilter- command helpful:

help filefilter

[Weiwen Li]

Try opening the file with Notepad++ (different from the regular notepad). That program allows you to manually define the encoding. Play around a bit with the encoding options that make sense and with some luck it'll look normal in one of them. Then you might be able to copy what you get into a new dofile.

Thanks Jesse. However, I tried all the encoding options at Notepad++, but none of the encodings works.

[Weiwen Li]

I don't fully understand what your situation is or what software you used on this do file, but you may find the -filefilter- command helpful:

help filefilter

Thanks Rich. I am using stata 15 on this do file. All of a sudden, about 200 lines of command became strange characters. I just do know why, and cannot find a way to deal with it. It seems filefilter works for files, and I should know the encoding beforehand. But I donot even know the encoding of the strane chacters now.

[Rich Goldstein]

are you saying that you used the Stata do-file editor and, when you were using that, the changes occurred? if yes, you need to contact tech-support at [email protected]; if that is not what you are saying I remain confused; -filefilter- will work on do files (in case you were saying that it would not); you can get the encoding of the "strange" characters using the -hexdump- command;

help hexdump

[Weiwen Li]

are you saying that you used the Stata do-file editor and, when you were using that, the changes occurred? if yes, you need to contact tech-support at [email protected]; if that is not what you are saying I remain confused; -filefilter- will work on do files (in case you were saying that it would not); you can get the encoding of the "strange" characters using the -hexdump- command;

help hexdump

Hi Rich. The changed occured when I reopned the saved do file. I have already sent an email to [email protected], but have not gotten reponse yet.

[Joseph Coveney]

The do file works well for a long period of time. Yesterday, I run the do file and save it on a laptop.

On the off chance, you wouldn't have another (say, backup) copy on another machine (for example, the company or university server) or USB flash drive, would you?

[Weiwen Li]

On the off chance, you wouldn't have another (say, backup) copy on another machine (for example, the company or university server) or USB flash drive, would you?

Hi Joseph. Unfortunately, I do not have any copy of the do file anywhere.

[Joseph Coveney]

Yeow! Can you reconstruct the lost commands from the log file?

[Weiwen Li]

Yeow! Can you reconstruct the lost commands from the log file?

Hi Joseph. Thank for your prompt reply. The worst thing is that I did not keep a log file for the command.