\name{stata.get}
\alias{stata.get}
\title{Enhanced Importing of STATA Files}
\description{
  Reads a file in Stata version 5-8 or 7/SE binary format into a
  data frame.
}
\usage{
stata.get(file, lowernames = FALSE, convert.dates = TRUE,
          convert.factors = TRUE, missing.type = FALSE,
          convert.underscore = TRUE, warn.missing.labels = TRUE,
          force.single = TRUE, allow=NULL, charfactor=FALSE, \dots)
}
\arguments{
  \item{file}{input SPSS save file.  May be a file on the WWW, indicated
    by \code{file} starting with \code{'http://'}.}
  \item{lowernames}{set to \code{TRUE} to convert variable names to
    lower case}
  \item{convert.dates}{see \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}}}
  \item{convert.factors}{see \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}}}
  \item{missing.type}{see \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}}}
  \item{convert.underscore}{see \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}}}
  \item{warn.missing.labels}{see \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}}}
  \item{force.single}{set to \code{FALSE} to prevent integer-valued
    variables from being converted from storage mode \code{double} to
    \code{integer}}
  \item{allow}{a vector of characters allowed by \R that should not be
	converted to periods in variable names.  By default, underscores in
	variable names are converted to periods as with \R before version 1.9.}
  \item{charfactor}{set to \code{TRUE} to change character variables to
	factors if they have at least two characters in an observation but
	have fewer than n/2 unique values}
  \item{\dots}{arguments passed to \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}}.}
}
\details{
  \code{stata.get} invokes the \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}} function in the
  \pkg{foreign} package to read an STATA file, with a default output
  format of \code{\link{data.frame}}.  The \code{\link{label}} function is used to
  attach labels to individual variables instead of to the data frame as
  done by \code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}}.  By default, integer-valued variables are
  converted to a storage mode of integer unless
  \code{force.single=FALSE}.  Date variables are converted to \R
  \code{\link{Date}} variables.  By default, underscores in names are converted to periods.
}
\value{A data frame}
\author{Charles Dupont}
\seealso{\code{\link[foreign]{read.dta}},\code{\link{cleanup.import}},\code{\link{label}},\code{\label{data.frame}},\code{\link{Date}}}
\examples{
\dontrun{
w <- stata.get(\sQuote{/tmp/my.dta})
}
}
\keyword{interface}
\keyword{manip}
\keyword{file}
\concept{STATA data file}