cd — Change directory

Title stata.com

Description Quick start Syntax Remarks and examples Also see

Description

Stata for Windows: cd changes the current working directory to the speciﬁed drive and directory.

pwd is equivalent to typing cd without arguments; both display the name of the current working

directory. Note: You can shell out to a Windows command prompt; see [D] shell. However, typing !cd

directory name does not change Stata’s current directory; use the cd command to change directories.

Stata for Mac and Stata for Unix: cd (synonym chdir) changes the current working directory to

directory name or, if directory name is not speciﬁed, the home directory. pwd displays the path of

the current working directory.

Quick start

Change working directory in Stata for Windows to C:\mydir\myfolder

cd c:\mydir\myfolder

Change working directory in Stata for Windows to C:\my dir\my folder

cd "c:\my dir\my folder"

Change working directory in Stata for Mac or Unix to mydir/myfolder

cd mydir/myfolder

Move up one level in the directory structure

cd ..

Move to myfolder from mydir

cd myfolder

View current working directory

pwd

Go to home directory in Stata for Mac or Unix

2 cd — Change directory

Syntax

Stata for Windows





directory name









drive:









drive:directory name





pwd

Stata for Mac and Stata for Unix





directory name





pwd

If your directory name contains embedded spaces, remember to enclose it in double quotes.

Remarks and examples stata.com

Remarks are presented under the following headings:

Stata for Windows

Stata for Mac

Stata for Unix

Stata for Windows

When you start Stata for Windows, your current working directory is set to the Start in directory

speciﬁed in Properties. If you want to change this, see [GSW] B.1 The Windows Properties Sheet.

You can always see what your working directory is by looking at the status bar at the bottom of the

Stata window.

Once you are in Stata, you can change your directory with the cd command.

. cd

c:\data

. cd city

c:\data\city

. cd d:

D:\

. cd kande

D:\kande

. cd "additional detail"

D:\kande\additional detail

. cd c:

C:\

. cd data\city

C:\data\city

cd — Change directory 3

. cd \a\b\c\d\e\f\g

C:\a\b\c\d\e\f\g

. cd ..

C:\a\b\c\d\e\f

. cd ...

C:\a\b\c\d

. cd ....

C:\a

When we typed cd d:, we changed to the current directory of the D drive. We navigated our

way to d:\kande\additional detail with three commands: cd d:, then cd kande, and then

cd "additional detail". The double quotes around “additional detail” are necessary because of

the space in the directory name. We could have changed to this directory in one command: cd

"d:\kande\additional detail".

Notice the last three cd commands in the example above. You are probably familiar with the

cd .. syntax to move up one directory from where you are. The last two cd commands above let you

move up more than one directory: cd ... is shorthand for “cd ..\..” and cd .... is shorthand

for “cd ..\..\..”. These shorthand cd commands are not limited to Stata; they will work in your

Command window under Windows as well.

You can see the current directory (where Stata saves ﬁles and looks for ﬁles) by typing pwd. You

can change the current directory by using cd or by selecting File > Change working directory....

Stata’s cd command understands “

” as an abbreviation for the home directory, so you can type things

like cd

\data.

. pwd

C:\Users\bill\proj

. cd "

\data\city"

C:\Users\bill\data\city

If you now wanted to change to "C:\Users\bill\data\city\ny", you could type cd ny. If you

wanted instead to change to "C:\Users\bill\data", you could type “cd ..”.

Stata for Mac

Read [U] 11.6 Filenaming conventions for a description of how ﬁlenames are written in a command

language before reading this entry.

Invoking an application and then changing folders is an action foreign to most Mac users. If it is

foreign to you, you can ignore cd and pwd. However, they can be useful. You can see the current

folder (where Stata saves ﬁles and looks for ﬁles) by typing pwd. You can change the current folder

by using cd or by selecting File > Change working directory.... Stata’s cd command understands

“

” as an abbreviation for the home directory, so you can type things like cd

/data.

. pwd

/Users/bill/proj

. cd "

/data/city"

/Users/bill/data/city

If you now wanted to change to "/Users/bill/data/city/ny", you could type cd ny. If you

wanted instead to change to "/Users/bill/data", you could type “cd ..”.

4 cd — Change directory

Stata for Unix

cd and pwd are equivalent to Unix’s cd and pwd commands. Like csh, Stata’s cd understands

“

” as an abbreviation for the home directory $HOME, so you can type things like cd

/data; see

[U] 11.6 Filenaming conventions.

. pwd

/usr/bill/proj

. cd

/data/city

/usr/bill/data/city

If you now wanted to change to /usr/bill/data/city/ny, you could type cd ny. If you wanted

instead to change to /usr/bill/data, you could type “cd ..”.

Also see

[D] copy — Copy ﬁle from disk or URL

[D] dir — Display ﬁlenames

[D] erase — Erase a disk ﬁle

[D] mkdir — Create directory

[D] rmdir — Remove directory

[D] shell — Temporarily invoke operating system

[D] type — Display contents of a ﬁle

[U] 11.6 Filenaming conventions

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