Title

intro — Introduction to base reference manual

Description
This entry describes the organization of the reference manuals.

Remarks
The complete list of reference manuals is as follows:

[R] Stata Base Reference Manual

Volume 1, A–H
Volume 2, I–P
Volume 3, Q–Z
[D ] Stata Data Management Reference Manual
[G ] Stata Graphics Reference Manual
[P ] Stata Programming Reference Manual
[XT] Stata Longitudinal/Panel-Data Reference Manual
[MV] Stata Multivariate Statistics Reference Manual
[SVY] Stata Survey Data Reference Manual
[ST] Stata Survival Analysis and Epidemiological Tables Reference Manual
[TS] Stata Time-Series Reference Manual
[I] Stata Quick Reference and Index

[M ] Mata Reference Manual

When we refer to “reference manuals”, we mean all manuals listed above.

When we refer to the Stata reference manuals, we mean all manuals listed above except the Mata
Reference Manual .
When we refer to the Base Reference Manual , we mean just the three-volume Base Reference
Manual, known as [R].
When we refer to the specialty manuals, we mean all the manuals listed above, except [R] and
[ I ], the Quick Reference and Index.
Detailed information about each of these manuals can be found online at

http://www.stata-press.com/manuals/

1
 2 intro — Introduction to base reference manual

Arrangement of the Stata Reference manuals

Each manual contains the following sections:
• Table of Contents.
At the beginning of volume 1 of [R], the Stata Base Reference Manual, is a table of contents for
the three volumes.
• Cross-Referencing the Documentation.
This section lists all the manuals and explains how they are cross-referenced.
• Introduction.
This entry—usually called intro—provides an overview of the manual. In the specialty manuals,
this introduction suggests entries that you might want to read first and provides information about
new features.
Each specialty manual contains an overview of the commands described in it.
• Entries.
Entries are arranged in alphabetical order. Most entries describe Stata commands, but some entries
discuss concepts, and others provide overviews.
Entries that describe estimation commands are followed by an entry discussing postestimation
commands that are available for use after the estimation command. For example, the xtlogit entry
in the [XT] manual is followed by the xtlogit postestimation entry.
• Index.
At the end of each manual is an index. The index for the entire three-volume Stata Base Reference
Manual is found at the end of the third volume.
The Stata Quick Reference and Index, [ I ], contains a combined index for all the manuals and a
subject table of contents for all the manuals and the User’s Guide. It also contains quick-reference
information on many subjects, such as the estimation commands.
To find information and commands quickly, use Stata’s search command; see [R] search (see the
entry search in the [R] manual). You can broaden your search to the Internet by using search,
all to find commands and extensions written by Stata users.

Arrangement of each entry

Entries in the Stata Reference manuals generally contain the following sections:
Syntax
Description
Options
Remarks
Saved Results
Methods and Formulas
References
Also See

Syntax
A command’s syntax diagram shows how to type the command, indicates all possible options, and
gives the minimal allowed abbreviations for all the items in the command. For instance, the syntax
diagram for the summarize command is
 intro — Introduction to base reference manual 3






summarize varlist if in weight , options

options description
Main
detail display additional statistics
meanonly suppress the display; calculate only the mean; programmer’s option
format use variable’s display format
separator(#) draw separator line after every # variables; default is separator(5)
varlist may contain time-series operators; see [U] 11.4.3 Time-series varlists.
by is allowed; see [D] by.
aweights, fweights, and iweights are allowed. However, iweights may not be used with the detail
option; see [U] 11.1.6 weight.

Items in the typewriter-style font should be typed exactly as they appear in the diagram,
although they may be abbreviated. Underlining indicates the shortest abbreviations where abbre-
viations are allowed. For instance, summarize may be abbreviated su, sum, summ, etc., or it may be
spelled out completely. Items in the typewriter font that are not underlined may not be abbreviated.
Square brackets denote optional items. In the syntax diagram above, varlist, if, in, weight, and the
options are optional.
The options are listed in a table immediately following the diagram, along with a brief description
of each.
Items typed in italics represent arguments for which you are to substitute variable names, observation
numbers, and the like.
The diagrams use the following symbols:
# Indicates a literal number, e.g., 5; see [U] 12.2 Numbers.


Anything enclosed in brackets is optional.

At least one of the items enclosed in braces must appear.
| The vertical bar separates alternatives.
%fmt Any Stata format, e.g., %8.2f; see [U] 12.5 Formats: controlling how data are displayed.
depvar The dependent variable in an estimation command; see [U] 20 Estimation and postesti-
mation commands.
exp Any algebraic expression, e.g., (5+myvar)/2; see [U] 13 Functions and expressions.
filename Any filename; see [U] 11.6 File-naming conventions.
indepvars The independent variables in an estimation command; see [U] 20 Estimation and
postestimation commands.
newvar A variable that will be created by the current command; see [U] 11.4.2 Lists of new
variables.
numlist A list of numbers; see [U] 11.1.8 numlist.
oldvar A previously created variable; see [U] 11.4.1 Lists of existing variables.
options A list of options; see [U] 11.1.7 options.
range An observation range, e.g., 5/20; see [U] 11.1.4 in range.
"string" Any string of characters enclosed in double quotes; see [U] 12.4 Strings.
 4 intro — Introduction to base reference manual

varlist A list of variable names; see [U] 11.4 varlists. If varlist allows time-series operators, a
note to that effect will be shown below the syntax diagram; see [U] 11.4.3 Time-series
varlists.
varname A variable name; see [U] 11.3 Naming conventions.
weight A [wgttype=exp] modifier; see [U] 11.1.6 weight and [U] 20.17 Weighted estimation.
xvar The variable to be displayed on the horizontal axis.
yvar The variable to be displayed on the vertical axis.

The Syntax section will indicate whether time-series operators may be used with a command.
summarize allows time-series operators.
If a command allows prefix commands, this will be indicated immediately following the table of
options. The summarize command allows by.
If a command allows weights, the types of weights allowed will be specified, with the default
weight listed first. summarize allows aweights, fweights, and iweights, and if the type of weight
is not specified, the default is aweights.

Description
Following the syntax diagram is a brief description of the purpose of the command.

Options
If the command allows any options, they are explained here, and for dialog users the location of
the options in the dialog is indicated. For instance, in the logistic entry in this manual, the Options
section looks like this:

 Model
...

 SE/Robust
...

 Reporting
...

 Max options
...

Remarks
The explanations under Description and Options are exceedingly brief and technical; they are
designed to provide a quick summary. The remarks explain in English what the preceding technical
jargon means. Examples are used to illustrate the command.
 intro — Introduction to base reference manual 5

Saved Results
Commands are classified as e-class, r-class, s-class, or n-class, according to whether they save
calculated results in e(), r(), s(), or not at all. These results can then be used in subroutines by
other programs (ado-files). Such saved results are documented here; see [U] 18.8 Accessing results
calculated by other programs and [U] 18.9 Accessing results calculated by estimation commands.

Methods and Formulas

The techniques and formulas used in obtaining the results are described here as tersely and
technically as possible. If a command is implemented as an ado-file, that is indicated here.

References
Published sources are listed that either were directly referenced in the preceding text or might be
of interest.

Also See
Other manual entries are listed that might also interest you.

Also See
[U] 1.1 Getting Started with Stata