Is it possible, in Stata or Mata, to access the dataset label of a Stata dataset on disk without loading the dataset into memory? I ask because the describe command (with a using qualifier) is capable of returning a list of very useful results in r(), including a list of all variables and a list of variables by which the dataset is sorted, and it outputs the dataset label (and the time and date of dataset creation) in the printed output, suggesting that the describe command reads the dataset label (and the time and date of dataset creation) without loading the dataset, but I have not managed to find how I get the dataset label (or the time and date of dataset creation). I have checked
help undocumented
and discovered the dtaversion, webdescribe and dtaverify commands, but nothing about inputting the dataset label in a form that I could process elsewhere. (For instance, I might like to update my SSC command descgen, which inputs a dataset in memory with 1 obs for each of a set of datasets on disk, to create an output variable containing the dataset labbels.)
Is there a solution?
Best wishes
Roger
help undocumented
and discovered the dtaversion, webdescribe and dtaverify commands, but nothing about inputting the dataset label in a form that I could process elsewhere. (For instance, I might like to update my SSC command descgen, which inputs a dataset in memory with 1 obs for each of a set of datasets on disk, to create an output variable containing the dataset labbels.)
Is there a solution?
Best wishes
Roger
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