Stata's proprietary file formats have changed over time, although not every Stata release includes a new dataset format. This includes ASCII data formats (such as CSV or databank formats) and spreadsheet formats (including various Excel formats).
Stata can import data in a variety of formats. Stata refers to the columns of tabular data as variables. Stata's data format is always tabular in format. Stata utilizes integer storage types which occupy only one or two bytes rather than four, and single-precision (4 bytes) rather than double-precision (8 bytes) is the default for floating-point numbers. Its compress command automatically reassigns data to data types that take up less memory without loss of information. Stata allows for flexibility with assigning data types to data. Until the release of version 16, Stata could only open a single dataset at any one time. From version 11 on, other commands can be executed while the data browser or editor is opened. The dataset can be viewed or edited in spreadsheet format. Starting with version 8.0, Stata has included a graphical user interface based on Qt framework which uses menus and dialog boxes to give access to many built-in commands. Technical overview and terminology User interface įrom its creation, Stata has always employed an integrated command-line interface.