pytask-stata

Run Stata's do-files with pytask.

Installation

pytask-stata is available on PyPI and Anaconda.org. Install it with

$ uv add pytask-stata

# or

$ pixi add pytask-stata

You also need to have Stata installed on your system and have the executable on your system's PATH. If you do not know how to do it, here is an explanation.

Usage

Similarly to normal task functions which execute Python code, you define tasks to execute scripts written in Stata with Python functions. The difference is that the function body does not contain any logic, but the decorator tells pytask how to handle the task.

Here is an example where you want to run script.do.

from pathlib import Path

from pytask import mark


@mark.stata(script=Path("script.do"))
def task_run_do_file(produces: Path = Path("auto.dta")):
    pass

When executing a do-file, the current working directory changes to the directory where the task module is located. This allows you, for example, to reference data sets with a relative path from the task module.

Dependencies and Products

Dependencies and products can be added as with a normal pytask task using the task function signature as explained in this tutorial.

Here is a task with one dependency and one product.

from pathlib import Path

from pytask import mark


@mark.stata(script=Path("script.do"))
def task_run_do_file(
    depends_on: Path = Path("input.dta"),
    produces: Path = Path("auto.dta"),
):
    pass

pytask uses input.dta and auto.dta to decide whether the task needs to run. If input.dta changes or auto.dta is missing, the Stata task is executed again.

You can also use @task(kwargs=...) to define dependencies which are not part of the function signature.

from pathlib import Path

from pytask import mark
from pytask import task


@task(kwargs={"depends_on": Path("input.dta")})
@mark.stata(script=Path("script.do"))
def task_run_do_file(produces: Path = Path("auto.dta")):
    pass

Accessing dependencies and products in the script

Dependencies and products registered in the task function signature are used by pytask to order tasks and track whether they are up-to-date. They are not automatically passed to the Stata script. Use the options argument of the decorator to pass paths or other values as command line arguments to your Stata executable.

For example, pass paths for the dependency and product with

from pathlib import Path

from pytask import mark


@mark.stata(script=Path("script.do"), options=[Path("input.dta"), Path("auto.dta")])
def task_run_do_file(
    depends_on: Path = Path("input.dta"),
    produces: Path = Path("auto.dta"),
):
    pass

And in your script.do, you can intercept the value with

* Intercept command line arguments and save them to macros.
args depends_on produces

sysuse auto, clear
save "`produces'"

The relative path inside the do-file works only because pytask-stata switches the current working directory to the directory of the task module before the task is executed.

To make the task independent from the current working directory, pass the full path as an command line argument. Here is an example.

# Absolute path to the build directory.
from pathlib import Path

from pytask import mark

from src.config import BLD


@mark.stata(script=Path("script.do"), options=BLD / "auto.dta")
def task_run_do_file(produces: Path = BLD / "auto.dta"):
    pass

Repeating tasks with different scripts or inputs

You can also parametrize the execution of scripts, meaning executing multiple do-files as well as passing different command line arguments to the same do-file.

The following task executes two do-files which produce different outputs.

from pathlib import Path

from pytask import mark
from pytask import task

for i in range(2):

    @task
    @mark.stata(script=Path(f"script_{i}.do"), options=f"{i}.dta")
    def task_execute_do_file(produces: Path = Path(f"{i}.dta")):
        pass

Configuration

pytask-stata can be configured with the following options.

stata_keep_log

Use this option to keep the .log files which are produced for every task. This option is useful to debug Stata tasks. Set the option via the configuration file with

[tool.pytask.ini_options]
stata_keep_log = true

The option is also available in the command line interface via the --stata-keep-log flag.

stata_check_log_lines

Use this option to vary the number of lines in the log file which are checked for error codes. It also controls the number of lines displayed on errors. Use any integer greater than zero. Here is the entry in the configuration file

[tool.pytask.ini_options]
stata_check_log_lines = 10

and here via the command line interface

$ pytask build --stata-check-log-lines 10

Changes

Consult the release notes to find out about what is new.