issues with global macro windows code on mac

[Cassie Wright]

I am trying to use a Master do file that someone has sent me from their windows computer. I have a Mac and the project that was sent to me was based on a global macro, used to change to and from directories.

gl MP "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data"

    cd "$MP/Replication_Files/Management/Master"

unable to change to /Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files/Management/Ma
> ster
r(170);

end of do-file

The global MP is meant to be the master path for the project. To run the master management file, I have to change to the master management folder.

I suspect that this is because there's a slight software difference between windows and Mac, any ideas what the problem might be?

[Mike Lacy]

Rather than the differences in the grammar of file references between Windows and Mac environments, the most likely explanation for this error message would be that you don't have a directory named "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files/Management/Master"
Have you checked that?

If you don't have a directory by that name, you would need to make one, or to change the global to refer to some other existing directory you'd rather use.
(And, by the way, another problem may occur if your colleague's code expects there to be some existing file(s) in that directory, but that's another matter.)

[Clyde Schechter]

So, does the folder /Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files/Management/Master actually exist on your computer? Try accessing it from some other program. My guess is that it isn't there.

This just a hunch, but since the code was developed in a Windows box and you are porting it to a Mac, one difference between them is that on the Mac, pathnames and filenames are case sensitive, whereas in Windows they are not. So I'm wondering if /data/ needs to be /Data/ on your machine, or some other such discrepancy.

Added: Crossed with #2 who proposes a related, but different, issue.

[Cassie Wright]

Rather than the differences in the grammar of file references between Windows and Mac environments, the most likely explanation for this error message would be that you don't have a directory named "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files/Management/Master"
Have you checked that?

If you don't have a directory by that name, you would need to make one, or to change the global to refer to some other existing directory you'd rather use.
(And, by the way, another problem may occur if your colleague's code expects there to be some existing file(s) in that directory, but that's another matter.)

It already exists on my computer so I'm not sure why it's not finding it. Normally when I try and change directory I have no issue.

[Cassie Wright]

So, does the folder /Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files/Management/Master actually exist on your computer? Try accessing it from some other program. My guess is that it isn't there.

This just a hunch, but since the code was developed in a Windows box and you are porting it to a Mac, one difference between them is that on the Mac, pathnames and filenames are case sensitive, whereas in Windows they are not. So I'm wondering if /data/ needs to be /Data/ on your machine, or some other such discrepancy.

Added: Crossed with #2 who proposes a related, but different, issue.

As I was saying to Mike, it definitely does exist. I've also made sure that the code is case sensitive, so I'm not sure why it's not finding it. I wonder if I should just try it again with a new file and see if that works. I am also thinking that stata behaves differently on Macs than windows computers, for example,

gtools

doesn't work for me. According to google, it bugs out on Macs.

[Jared Greathouse]

One potential issue is that the data could be in a zip file. Stata can't open (I don't think!!) files from within zip files. So if it's in some compressed format, I would extract these files to whatever directory you'd like to work from, and then proceed that way.

[William Lisowski]

As a Mac user, I have replicated this issue on my system - Stata 17 fully updated - and am totally at a loss for an explanation. Here is my test code, having first created the folder "gnxl" on my Desktop.

cls
clear all
cd /Users/lisowskiw
cd /Users/lisowskiw/Desktop/gnxl
cd /Users/lisowskiw
global MP "/Users/lisowski/Desktop"
cd "$MP/gnxl"
cd /Users/lisowskiw
local MP "/Users/lisowski/Desktop"
cd "`MP'/gnxl"

Here is the result of copying that code and pasting it, as a single block, into Stata's Command window.

. clear all

. cd /Users/lisowskiw
/Users/lisowskiw

. cd /Users/lisowskiw/Desktop/gnxl
/Users/lisowskiw/Desktop/gnxl

. cd /Users/lisowskiw
/Users/lisowskiw

. global MP "/Users/lisowski/Desktop"

. cd "$MP/gnxl"
unable to change to /Users/lisowski/Desktop/gnxl
r(170);

. cd /Users/lisowskiw
/Users/lisowskiw

. local MP "/Users/lisowski/Desktop"

. cd "`MP'/gnxl"
unable to change to /Users/lisowski/Desktop/gnxl
r(170);

.

I will continue to ponder this, but suggest that this question be addressed to Stata Technical Services at https://www.stata.com/support/tech-support/

[William Lisowski]

To my embarassment, I see the error in the code in post #7; when corrected I cannot reproduce the problem. In both the global and local commands I used "lisowski" where I should have used "lisowskiw".

I suggest pasting the following commands into the Do-file Editor and running them:

cd "/Users"
cd "/Users/Cassie"
cd "/Users/Cassie/Desktop"
cd "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data"
cd "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data"
cd "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files"
cd "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files/Management"
cd "/Users/Cassie/Desktop/data/Jared_Data/Replication_Files/Management/Master"

Let me add the following details of my macOS configuration, which I updated from macOS 12.1 yesterday, and my Stata version.

. shell system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType

Software:

    System Software Overview:

      System Version: macOS 12.2 (21D49)
      Kernel Version: Darwin 21.3.0
      Boot Volume: Macintosh HD
      Boot Mode: Normal
      Computer Name: MacBook WL
      User Name: William Lisowski (lisowskiw)
      Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
      System Integrity Protection: Enabled
      Time since boot: 4 minutes


. about

Stata/SE 17.0 for Mac (Intel 64-bit)
Revision 17 Jan 2022
Copyright 1985-2021 StataCorp LLC

Total physical memory: 8.01 GB

Stata license: Single-user  perpetual
Serial number: [redacted]
  Licensed to: William Lisowski
              

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