How can I access a stata file from a zipped folder?

[Okumu]

I tried to use the usual procedure of extracting and then clicking the file of interest. However, upon extracting the folder and clicking my file of interest, I receive an error message... use C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\Rar$DIa0.220\Ugan da_2006_2013_Panel.dta file C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\Rar.220\Uganda_20 06_2013_Panel.dta not found r(601); HOW CAN I DEAL WITH IT?

[Nick Cox]

Somehow there is a dollar sign within your file name. If you look carefully at your output you will see that the filenames differ: the text $Dla0 does not appear within what Stata is trying to access. That is because Stata has tried to interpret that text as a reference to a global macro named Dla0. You have no such global macro, so Stata replaces the macro reference by nothing, but that means the filename Stata sees does not designate a physical file.

I'd try saving the file to your operating system, presumably some version of Windows, renaming it to remove the dollar sign and then reading it in directly.

Using a zipped folder is thus not the problem here; it's the dollar sign within the filename.

[Okumu]

Thank you Nick. I opted to copy the file to the desktop. There after all went well.