importdta.export_dta

importdta.export_dta(
    df,
    path,
    *,
    labels=None,
    use_defaults=True,
    use_df_attrs=True,
    overwrite=False,
    data_label=None,
    version=118,
    write_index=False,
    compression='infer',
    time_stamp=None,
)

Export a DataFrame to a Stata .dta file, writing variable labels.

Variable label sources (later wins on key conflicts): 1) MTable.DEFAULT_LABELS (if use_defaults=True) 2) df.attrs[‘variable_labels’] (if use_df_attrs=True) 3) labels argument (highest priority)

Stata value labels - pandas writes Categorical columns with their categories as Stata value labels. Ensure columns that should carry value labels are dtype ‘category’.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description	Default
df	pandas.DataFrame	Data to export.	required
path	str | os.PathLike	Output .dta path. Existing file is preserved unless overwrite=True.	required
labels	dict	Explicit variable labels {column: label} to apply (highest priority).	None
use_defaults	bool	Include labels from MTable.DEFAULT_LABELS.	True
use_df_attrs	bool	Include labels from df.attrs[‘variable_labels’] if present.	True
overwrite	bool	If False and file exists, raise FileExistsError.	False
data_label	str	Stata dataset label.	None
version	int	Stata file version (118 recommended; 117 is Stata 13).	118
write_index	bool	Whether to write the index as a Stata variable.	False
compression	('zip', 'gzip', 'bz2', 'xz', 'zst', 'infer', None)	Compression mode for the output.	'zip','gzip','bz2','xz','zst','infer',None
time_stamp	datetime	Timestamp written to the Stata file header.	None

Returns

Name	Type	Description
	None

Notes

• Stata variable labels are limited to 80 characters; longer labels are truncated.
• Some older pandas versions may not support variable_labels=; a warning is emitted and the file is written without variable labels in that case.

Examples

>>> export_dta(df, "data/auto_out.dta", overwrite=True)
>>> export_dta(df, "data/auto_out.dta", labels={"price": "Vehicle price"}, overwrite=True)