Fix Stata path errors

BNR info-hub Technical Manual

1 Fix Stata path errors

1.1 Purpose

Use this guide when a Stata DO file cannot find a path, dataset, ADO file, output folder, or local configuration file.

The usual causes are:

  • Stata was started from the wrong working directory
  • bnr_paths_LOCAL.do is missing or has the wrong paths
  • the private data folder is missing
  • the expected frozen dataset is not in the expected location
  • an ADO helper is not in scripts/stata/ado/

2 Stage 1: Confirm the working directory

In Stata, run:

pwd

The result should be the repo root:

C:/yoshimi-hot/output/analyse-bnr/info-hub

If not, set it explicitly:

cd "C:/yoshimi-hot/output/analyse-bnr/info-hub"

3 Stage 2: Check local path configuration

From the repo root in Stata, run:

confirm file "scripts/stata/config/bnr_paths_LOCAL.do"

If this fails, copy:

scripts/stata/config/bnr_paths_TEMPLATE.do

and rename the copy to:

scripts/stata/config/bnr_paths_LOCAL.do

Open:

scripts/stata/config/bnr_paths_LOCAL.do

Check these lines:

global BNR_REPO     "C:/yoshimi-hot/output/analyse-bnr/info-hub"
global BNR_PRIVATE  "C:/yoshimi-hot/output/analyse-bnr/info-hub-private"

Both paths must match the local machine.

bnr_paths_LOCAL.do is machine-specific and should not be committed to Git.

Only the template should be committed:

scripts/stata/config/bnr_paths_TEMPLATE.do

4 Stage 3: Check the private data folder

In PowerShell, run:

Test-Path C:\yoshimi-hot\output\analyse-bnr\info-hub-private

Expected result:

True

The 2023 CVD prep file expects the frozen source dataset under:

info-hub-private/data/frozen/releases/y2023/m12/

For the case-count pilot, the expected dataset is:

bnr-cvd-indiv-full-202312-v01.dta

5 Stage 4: Check ADO helpers

Active ADO helpers should live here:

scripts/stata/ado/

In Stata, after loading local paths, run:

adopath

Check that the project ADO folder appears.

6 Stage 5: Rerun the failing command

After fixing a path issue, rerun the same command that failed, for example:

do "scripts/stata/briefings/cvd_cases_2023/cvd_cases_2023.do"
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