[U] User's Guide

[ U ] 1.2 The User’s Guide and the Reference manuals 7[GSW] C Advanced Stata usage[GSM] C Advanced Stata usage[GSU] C Advanced Stata usageare instructions to see the appropriate section of the Getting Started with Stata for Windows, GettingStarted with Stata for Mac, or Getting Started with Stata for Unix manual.1.2.4 The indexAt the end of each manual is an index for that manual. The index for the Base Reference Manualis found at the end of the third volume. The index for the Mata Reference Manual is found at theend of the second volume.The Quick Reference and Index contains a combined index for the Getting Started manuals, theUser’s Guide, and all the Reference manuals except the Mata Reference Manual. It also containsquick reference information on subjects such as the estimation commands.To find information and commands quickly, you can use Stata’s search or hsearch commands;see [R] search and [R] hsearch. At the Stata command prompt, try typing search geometric mean.search searches Stata’s keyword database and, optionally, will search the Internet, too. Try typingsearch geometric mean, all. Searching the Internet lets you find more commands and extensionsfor Stata written by Stata users. hsearch, on the other hand, searches the text of all the Stata help fileson your computer, including help files that you have written and help files from user-written extensionsthat you have installed, and orders the outcome by relevancy. Try typing hsearch geometric mean.Between these two commands, if a capability exists, you should be able to find it.1.2.5 The subject table of contentsA subject table of contents for the User’s Guide and all the Reference manuals except the MataReference Manual is located in the Quick Reference and Index. This subject table of contents mayalso be accessed by clicking on Contents in the PDF bookmarks.If you look under “Functions and expressions”, you will see[U] Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Functions and expressions[D] dates and times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Date and time (%t) values and variables[D] egen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extensions to generate[D] functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Functions1.2.6 TypographyWe mix the ordinary typeface that you are reading now with a typewriter-style typeface that lookslike this. When something is printed in the typewriter-style typeface, it means that something is acommand or an option—it is something that Stata understands and something that you might actuallytype into your computer. Differences in typeface are important. If a sentence reads, “You could listthe result . . . ”, it is just an English sentence—you could list the result, but the sentence providesno clue as to how you might actually do that. On the other hand, if the sentence reads, “You couldlist the result . . . ”, it is telling you much more—you could list the result, and you could do thatby using the list command.