Working Directory Keeps Changing by Itself

[Brandon Morris]

I am brand new to Stata, though I regularly use R. I am on a Mac.

I am trying to set my working directory to a folder on my desktop using cmd+shift+j. The console will repeat "/Users/brandonmorris/Desktop/WD".

However, when I try to execute a .do file from that working directory, I get the error r(601).

Double checking the working directory using the command "cd" results in the console telling me that the directory is "/Users/brandonmorris".

Why does my working directory keep reverting back to "/Users/brandonmorris"? Is there a step here I'm missing? I've tried everything I can find on this forum. Thank you in advance for the help.

-Brandon

[Hemanshu Kumar]

As the help for cd states:

Stata for Mac and Stata for Unix: cd (synonym chdir) changes the current working directory to directory_name or, if directory_name is not
specified, the home directory. pwd displays the path of the current working directory.

So when you are entering just cd , it is not merely telling you what the current directory is, it is also changing it to your home directory, /users/brandonmorris

To know the current working directory, type pwd instead.

[Nick Cox]

cd stands for change directory and here is a Stata command. The same name with the same meaning was, and in a strong sense remains, used for a DOS command for PCs past and present and also is a long-standing command within Unix, Linux, and so forth.

I guess you're thinking it means current directory.