use

The use command loads Stata datasets from the disk, i.e., the datasets present on your computer. A close cousin is the sysuse command that loads datasets that came pre-installed with Stata (or that are stored on the ado path, whose meaning we don’t need to know yet). A more technically advanced cousin is the webuse command which can load datasets stored on websites.

You can check what datasets are already available for use with sysuse by typing sysuse dir in Stata. One commonly used example is the auto dataset. To use it, type sysuse auto.

Using the use command (jeje, you know, how to use use, super bad joke I know) is easy. Type use filename, clear to load a new dataset that is stored on your computer. filename contains both the address and the name of the dataset. For example, if the covid vaccination data was on your computer’s desktop, its address would be similar to “C:/Users/amolr/Desktop/”, and so you would type (with adjustments to the address) :

use "C:/Users/amolr/Desktop/covid_vaccination_2021_04_18.dta", clear

Up there, clear is optional. What it tells Stata is to disregard the dataset we are currently working on and to load the new dataset. So, be sure to save the current dataset before loading the new one (if you want to save it, that is). If you already have a dataset loaded in memory to which you have made changes, and don’t specify the clear option with the use command, Stata will reprimand you by saying “no; data in memory would be lost”!

I used a technical term, “loaded in memory” above. Whenever you load a dataset in Stata, the dataset gets loaded into your RAM for as long as you are working on it in Stata. So, using a dataset is essentially loading it from your hard drive to the RAM.