Saving the Data File

If you have not changed your data or if you do not want to keep any changes you have made, you may leave Stata without saving the data file, or you may clear the memory and use a new file.

However, if you want to keep your changes, the "save" command is the thing to do.

save newfilename

will save your file under a new name. Note that Stata does not normally permit directory or file names with empty spaces. If you want to use such a file name, say, "my newfile", you have to enclose the file name in double quotes.

If you want to save your file under the old name, use

save, replace

There is a command that may be helpful if your file is to be used by people who work with an older version of Stata (which means version 8 or 9 if you are working with version 10, and version 12 if you are working with version 13 or 14). This is:

saveold newfilename

There are a few special options for this command which the average user won't need.