dbf2stata

dbf2stata converts every .dbf file in a folder to a Stata .dta file. It is designed for research and legacy-data workflows where DBF files contain mixed date, numeric, logical, character, memo, or FoxPro-style fields.

Behaviour

• Converts all DBF files in one folder.
• Saves .dta files in the DBF folder by default.
• Lets the user choose a different output folder.
• Converts Stata variable names to lowercase by default.
• --keep-case retains the DBF field-name case.
• Converts DBF date fields to Stata daily dates and datetime fields to Stata datetimes.
• Handles Decimal, numeric, logical, character, memo, and binary-like fields.
• Reports per-file and overall conversion results.

Install for Python users

When published to PyPI:

pip install dbf2stata

For isolated command-line installation, pipx is also suitable:

pipx install dbf2stata

For local development from this repository:

python -m pip install -e .

Run interactively

dbf2stata

The program asks:

Folder containing DBF files: C:\data\dbfs
Output folder [press Enter to use C:\data\dbfs]:

Press Enter at the second prompt to save the .dta files beside the DBFs.

Run with command-line arguments

Save output beside the DBFs:

dbf2stata "C:\data\dbfs"

Use another output folder:

dbf2stata "C:\data\dbfs" --output "C:\data\stata"

Overwrite existing .dta files:

dbf2stata "C:\data\dbfs" --replace

Keep the field-name case stored in the DBF instead of lowercasing names:

dbf2stata "C:\data\dbfs" --keep-case

You can also run the package as a module:

python -m dbf2stata

Stata command

The stata/ directory contains:

• dbf2stata.ado
• dbf2stata.sthlp

The Stata command uses the same Python conversion engine, so Python and Stata users receive the same type handling and output behaviour.

Stata requirements

• Stata 16 or newer with Python configured.
• The dbf2stata Python package installed in the Python environment used by Stata.

Check Stata's Python configuration with:

python query

Once the ado package is installed, run:

dbf2stata

With no options, Stata asks you to select any DBF file in the folder. It then converts every DBF in that folder and saves the .dta files in the same folder.

Specify the input folder directly:

dbf2stata, inputdir("C:\data\dbfs")

Specify another output folder:

dbf2stata, inputdir("C:\data\dbfs") outputdir("C:\data\stata")

Overwrite existing .dta files:

dbf2stata, inputdir("C:\data\dbfs") replace

Retain DBF field-name case:

dbf2stata, inputdir("C:\data\dbfs") keepcase

Native Stata note

Stata itself includes import dbase for dBase III/IV DBF files. This project is intended for batch conversion and for DBF collections that benefit from the additional type handling provided by the Python conversion engine.

Suggested repository layout

dbf2stata/
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
├── src/
│   └── dbf2stata/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── __main__.py
│       ├── cli.py
│       └── core.py
└── stata/
    ├── dbf2stata.ado
    └── dbf2stata.sthlp

Testing

The conversion engine is covered by automated tests for:

• DBF discovery using .dbf and .DBF extensions
• lowercase variable names by default
• preservation of DBF field-name case with --keep-case
• numeric, logical and date conversion
• default same-folder output
• custom output directories
• overwrite protection
• explicit replacement of existing output files
• missing input-file handling

Run the test suite with:

python -m pytest

The initial development version was additionally validated on a legacy DBF collection containing 81 files and 382,566 records.

Author

William Dormechele

Citation

If you use dbf2stata in research, please cite the software using the citation metadata provided in CITATION.cff.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.