Read and write compressed .dta files using pigz (a parallel implementation of gzip).

• These functions only work on Max OSX or Linux. gzip requires the command pigz.

• Syntax

  • Commands use/save/merge/joinby/append can be prefixed with gzip:

    use "mydata"
    gzipuse "mydata"
    gzipsave "mydata"
    

  • Any suffix is ignored. In other words, the following commands give the same result

    gzipuse "/mydata.dta"
    gzipuse "/mydata.dta.gz"
    gzipuse "/mydata"
    

• Timings on a 3Go file.

  set rmsg on
  
  save "temp", replace
  *t = 21s
  
  gzipsave "temp", replace
  *t = 38s
  
  use "temp", clear
  *t = 10s
  
  gzipuse "temp", clear
  *t = 17s
  

installation

Install using

net install  "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/matthieugomez/compress.ado/main/"

If you have a version of Stata < 13, you need to install it manually

1. Click the "Download ZIP" button in the right column to download a zipfile.

2. Extract it into a folder (e.g. ~/SOMEFOLDER)

3. Run

   cap ado uninstall compress
   net install compress, from("~/SOMEFOLDER")