Find R equivalents of Stata commands

findit() looks up Stata commands and their R equivalents, including functions from tidystata and other packages. It also supports reverse lookup from R functions, keyword searches, and plain-language questions. Omit the query to browse all entries.

Usage

findit(command = NULL, ...)

Arguments

command: A Stata command, R function, or search phrase. Supply a bare name (findit(reg), findit(left_join)) or a quoted string for full syntax (findit("merge 1:1 id, keep(match)")). R function names may include () or a namespace prefix. Use !!cmd to look up a string stored in cmd. Defaults to NULL (all entries).
...: Optional variable names or command hints, captured without evaluation. Names customize examples in Stata operand order, while hints prioritize examples (findit(tab, gen)). Hints accept exact or unambiguous prefixes of at least three letters. Quote names that conflict with hints (findit(tab, "gen")). Use !! for stored strings. Only unnamed names and strings are accepted.

Value

A tibble of class tidystata_findit with one row per matching Stata idiom and five columns: match (match type), stata (Stata code), r (equivalent R code), package (primary R package), and task (description). All matches are returned, even when fewer are printed. If nothing matches, an empty tibble is returned invisibly with an explanatory message.

Details

Matching

Stata abbreviations are recognized (reg, regr, regress), while R functions require their full names. Exact-case matches take priority. Shared names, such as log, show both Stata and R interpretations.
Stata command matches appear before R function matches. Keyword searches are used when neither matches. Additional syntax and hints refine the ranking without discarding matches. by and bysort prefixes prioritize grouped operations.
Plain-language questions use deterministic keyword and synonym matching in English or Chinese, without a language model.

Output

Results print as readable Stata/R code pairs. A single clear match is shown alone; otherwise, up to five representative examples appear. Use print(n = Inf) to display all matches.
The match column identifies the lookup type: "stata", "r", "keyword", "nearest", or "all".
Supplied variable names customize compatible examples. Unresolved placeholders and unsupported combinations are explained in notes.

Notes

Quote multiword Stata syntax, reserved words ("if"), and names that are not valid R symbols ("_n").
Lookup works offline. External packages such as fixest, modelsummary, and srvyr are needed only when running their examples.
Chinese descriptions follow R's language settings. Use Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE = "en") to switch to English.
The reference is curated, not a parser or executor for arbitrary Stata programs. See the "Coming from Stata" articles for further guidance.

Examples

findit(reg)
#> # Linear regression [stats]
#> Stata: regress y x1 x2
#> R:     fit <- lm(y ~ x1 + x2, data = data)
#> # Note: summary(fit) shows the coefficient table; broom::tidy(fit) returns it as a data frame.
#> 
#> # 17 more examples. To see them all: findit(reg) |> print(n = Inf)

findit(tab, gen)
#> # Dummy variables for every category [tidystata]
#> Stata: tabulate x, generate(x_)
#> R:     as_dummy(data, x)
#> # Note: as_dummy(data, x, .names = "index") numbers the columns x_1, x_2, ... as Stata does. Also: fastDummies::dummy_cols(data, "x"). as_dummy() defaults to value-based column names; .names = "index" gives numbered Stata-style suffixes. Check the missing-category indicator policy too.
#> 
#> # 20 more examples. To see them all: findit(tab, gen) |> print(n = Inf)

findit(tab, sex, region)
#> # Two-way cross-tabulation [tidystata]
#> Stata: tabulate sex region
#> R:     tab2(data, sex, region)
#> # Note: fre2(data, x1, x2) adds row and column totals. tidystata retains missing categories by default; Stata tabulate excludes them unless missing is specified. Use .missing = FALSE to match Stata.
#> 
#> # 20 more examples. To see them all: findit(tab, sex, region) |> print(n = Inf)

findit("merge 1:1 id, keep(match)")
#> # Keep matched rows only [dplyr]
#> Stata: merge 1:1 id using data2, keep(match)
#> R:     inner_join(data1, data2, by = "id")
#> # Note: dplyr retains overlapping non-key columns with suffixes instead of Stata master values, creates no _merge, and does not enforce a declared 1:1 key constraint.
#> 
#> # merge() [base]: Merge two data frames (base R)
#>   Related Stata: merge
#> 
#> # 17 more examples. To see them all: findit("merge 1:1 id, keep(match)") |> print(n = Inf)

findit("how do I remove duplicate rows")
#> # Closest entries for "how do I remove duplicate rows"
#> 
#> # Drop rows that duplicate an earlier row [tidystata]
#> Stata: duplicates drop
#> R:     duplicates_drop(data)
#> 
#> # 9 more examples. To see them all: findit("how do I remove duplicate rows") |> print(n = Inf)

findit(left_join)
#> # Keep all rows of the master data [dplyr]
#> Stata: merge 1:1 id using data2, keep(master match)
#> R:     left_join(data1, data2, by = "id")
#> # Note: dplyr retains overlapping non-key columns with suffixes instead of Stata master values, creates no _merge, and does not enforce a declared 1:1 key constraint.
#> 
#> # 3 more examples. To see them all: findit(left_join) |> print(n = Inf)

# Filter the complete reference
entries <- findit()
entries |>
  dplyr::filter(package == "tidystata")
#> # Find the R equivalent of a Stata command [tidystata]
#> Stata: findit command
#> R:     findit(command)
#> # Note: Bare words and comma-separated names work: findit(tab, sex, region). Add hints such as findit(tab, gen), or quote full Stata syntax. One clear example is shown by default; print(n = Inf) reveals every match. findit() with no argument returns the whole list.
#> 
#> # 80 more examples. To see them all: findit() |> print(n = Inf)