gistfile1.txt

* If there are three users working with the same do-file but storing their work in different directories on their local machines, 
* use the following code to change to the project folder: ***

capture cd "C:/Documents and Settings/User_1/Working/Paper2/final_folder/"
capture cd "D:/Documents and Settings/User_2/final_folder/"
capture cd "Z:/Documents and Settings/User_3/Project2/final_folder/"

*** The capture command will check whether the directory on the first line exists. If it does, it will make it the current directory. 
*** If the directory does not exist, Stata will check whether the second one exists, and so. The role of -- capture -- here is to 
*** prevent Stata from halting when it encounters an error (i.e. a non-existing directory, in this case).


* If the only difference in the paths used by the three users is the username, then it is possible to replace the above code with:

cd "C:/Documents and Settings/`c(username)'/final_folder/"

*** Note: the `c(username)' captures the system username of the user.