I cannot open a dta file with relative addressing

[Homa Taheri]

I am a mac user and I work with Stata SE 18.0. I have opened a do file and want to read a dta file. I can open the file using the full address perfectly. I use this command:

use "/Users/homa/Downloads/data/WBES_FIRM/Angola/Angola-2010-full-data-.dta", clear

Since this is a shared project, I want Stata to change the directory to a local folder first, then open the file. So my colleagues can execute the do file easily on their systems. I use these commands:

cd "/Users/homa/Downloads"
use "../data/WBES_FIRM/Angola/Angola-2010-full-data-.dta", clear

But these two commands cannot open the file, and report this error message: file ../folder/your_file_name.dta not found r(601);


I would appreciate your help.

[George Taylor]

The double dot "../" means the parent folder of your current directory. "./" means the current directory. You should be able to use

use "./data/WBES_FIRM/Angola/Angola-2010-full-data-.dta", clear

or

use "data/WBES_FIRM/Angola/Angola-2010-full-data-.dta", clear

[Homa Taheri]

The double dot "../" means the parent folder of your current directory. "./" means the current directory.

Thank you so much! Yes, both codes worked.