pystata-kernel

A simple Jupyter kernel for Stata based on pystata. Requires Stata 17 or above. Consider stata_kernel instead if you have an older version of Stata.

Installation

To install pystata-kernel:

pip install pystata-kernel
python -m pystata-kernel.install [--sys-prefix] [--prefix] [--conf-file]

Include --sys-prefix if you are installing pystata-kernel in a multi-user environment, or --prefix if you want to specify a path yourself.

The kernel will try to determine the location of your Stata installation at startup. You can create a configuration file to preempt this detection with the --conf-file option. Even if you do not include this option, the configuration file will still be created if the installer cannot find any Stata installation.

The location of the configuration file is:

• [prefix]/etc/pykernel-stata.conf if --sys-prefix or --prefix is specified.
• ~/.pykernel-stata.conf otherwise.

If a configuration file exists in both locations, the user version takes precedent.

Syntax highlighting is the same as stata_kernel:

conda install nodejs -c conda-forge --repodata-fn=repodata.json
jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-stata-highlight

Configuration

The following settings are permitted inside the configuration file:

• stata_dir: Stata installation directory.
• edition: Stata edition. Acceptable values are 'be', 'se' and 'mp'. Default is 'be'.
• graph_format: Graph format. Acceptable values are 'png', 'pdf', 'svg' and 'pystata'. Specify the last option if you want to use pystata's setting. Default is 'png'.

Settings must be under the title [pystata-kernel]. Example:

[pystata-kernel]
stata_dir = /opt/stata
edition = mp
graph_format = svg

Default Graph Format

Both pystata and stata_kernel default to the SVG image format. pystata-kernel defaults to the PNG image format instead for several reasons:

• Jupyter does not show SVG images from untrusted notebooks (link 1).
• Notebooks with empty cells are untrusted (link 2).
• SVG images cannot be copied and pasted directly into Word or PowerPoint.

These issues make the SVG format unsuitable for use in a pedagogical setting, which is my primary use of a Jupyter kernel for Stata.