Stata Data Formats
In the topic of data formats in Stata, the concept of display formats is of primary interest. Stata uses display formats to extend the type system.
Several commands have internal ideas about data formats.
Contents
Display Formats
Numeric Formats
The default display format for each numeric data type is as follows:
Type |
Format |
double |
%10.0g |
float |
%9.0g |
long |
%12.0g |
int |
%8.0g |
byte |
%8.0g |
The available numeric formats are e, f, and g. The general format (g) indicates that the number of decimal places should be shifted to improve readability. The fixed width format (f) indicates that a fixed number of decimal places should be shown. The scientific format (e) indicates that scientific notation should be used.
Value |
With format %9.4g |
With format %9.4f |
With format %9.2e |
3.14159 |
3.142 |
3.14 |
3.14e+00 |
314.159 |
314.2 |
314.16 |
3.14e+02 |
A c can be appended to any numeric format to indicate that commas should be shown.
Date and Datetime Formats
Dates and datetimes are numeric data with unit-specific display formats. These are:
Format |
Unit |
%tc |
milliseconds ignoring leap seconds |
%tC |
milliseconds with leap seconds |
%td |
days |
%tw |
weeks |
%tm |
months |
%tq |
quarters |
%th |
half-years |
%ty |
years |
These formats can be customized with specific components.
Component |
Specification |
Displays As |
Century |
CC |
01-99 |
Century |
cc |
1-99 |
Year |
YY |
01-99 |
Year |
yy |
1-99 |
Day of year |
JJJ |
001-366 |
Day of year |
jjj |
1-366 |
Month |
Mon |
Jan-Dec |
Month |
Month |
January-December |
Month |
mon |
jan-dec |
Month |
month |
january-december |
Month |
NN |
01-12 |
Month |
nn |
1-12 |
Day |
DD |
01-31 |
Day |
dd |
1-31 |
Day of week |
DAYNAME |
Sunday-Saturday (aligned) |
Day of week |
Dayname |
Sunday-Saturday (unaligned) |
Day of week |
Day |
Sun-Sat |
Day of week |
Da |
Su-Sa |
Day of week |
day |
sun-sat |
Day of week |
da |
su-sa |
Half-year |
h |
1 or 2 |
Quarter |
q |
1-4 |
Week |
WW |
01-52 |
Week |
ww |
1-52 |
Hour |
HH |
00-23 |
Hour |
Hh |
00-12 |
Hour |
hH |
0-23 |
Hour |
hh |
0-12 |
Minute |
MM |
00-59 |
Minute |
mm |
0-59 |
Second |
SS |
00-60 (due to leap second) |
Second |
ss |
0-60 (due to leap second) |
Tenths |
.s |
.0-.9 |
Hundredths |
.ss |
.00-.99 |
Thousandths |
.sss |
.000-.999 |
AM/PM |
am/pm |
am or pm |
AM/PM |
a.m./p.m. |
a.m. or p.m. |
AM/PM |
AM/PM |
AM or PM |
AM/PM |
A.M./P.M. |
A.M. or P.M. |
Period |
. |
. |
Comma |
, |
, |
Colon |
: |
: |
Hyphen |
- |
- |
Space |
|
|
Forward slash |
/ |
/ |
Back slash |
\ |
\ |
Literal character |
!c |
c |
A plus sign (+) can optionally delimit components for human readability. It is ignored otherwise.
String Formats
Alignment is controlled by the presence or absence of a negative sign (-) ahead of the width. A string variable formatted as %-18s will be left-justified; with a format of %18s it would have been right-justified.
List
The list command resizes and reformats output to try and maximize accessibility. This involves automated truncation and alignment overriding display formats. For information on formatting the output of lists, see here.