Save outputs in an external file in Stata

Stata can store the outputs and/or the history of typed commmands using the .log and .cmdlog commands. While .log captures both commands and output, the .cmdlog command stores the stream of executed commands only.

Suppose you wish to save all commands and output into a text file called myoutput.txt in the c:\temp directory. The first step is to open a log file and begin storing, using the .log using command:

. log using c:\temp\myoutput.txt, text replace

The text option above writes the log file in ASCII format; the default is the SMCL (Stata Markup and Control Language) format. The replace option overwrites an existing file. To append the log file, use append instead.

To stop saving the log and close the file, enter:

. log close

To save the commands only, use the .cmdlog command:

. cmdlog using c:\temp\mycommand.txt, append

To close the file, enter:

. cmdlog close

You may suspend logging using either .log off or .cmdlog off. To resume logging, use either .log on or .cmdlog on.