Command Reference : Command Reference
  
 
dbopen
Open an existing database.
Syntax
dbopen(options) [path\]db_name [as shorthand_name]
Follow the dbopen keyword with the name of a database. You should include a path name to open a database not in the default path. The opened database will become the default database.
You do not need to specify a database name when opening a Datastream or FRED connection (“type=datastream” or “type=fred”) as EViews will automatically connect to the proper location.
You may use the “as” keyword to provide an optional shorthand_name or a short text label which is used to refer to the open database in commands and programs. If you leave this field blank, a default shorthand_name will be assigned automatically.
See “Database Shorthands” for additional discussion.
By default, EViews will use the extension of the database file to determine type. For example, files with the extension “.EDB” will be opened as an EViews database. You may use the “type=” option to specify an explicit type.
Options
 
type=arg, t=arg
Specify the database type: (see table below).
The following table summaries the various database formats, along with the corresponding “type=” keywords:
 
 
Option “type=” keywords
Notes
Australian Bureau of Statistics SDMX
“abs”
(b)
Bloomberg
“bloom”
(a), (b)
Bureau of Economic Analysis
“bea”
(b)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
“bls”
(b)
CEIC
“ceic”
(a), (b)
Datastream
“datastream”
(a), (b)
DBnomics
“dbnomics”
(b)
Deutsche Bundesbank SDMX
“bbk”
(b)
ECB (European Central Bank)
ecb”
(b)
EIA Bulk File
“eiabulk”
(a), (c)
EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
“eia”
(a), (b)
Eurostat SDMX
“eurostat”
(b)
EViews
“e”, “eviews”
 
FAME
“f”, “fame”
(a)
FRED
“fred”
(b)
FRED v1
“fredv1”
(b)
Haver
“h”, “haver”
(a)
IHS Global Insight
“ihs global insight”
(a), (b)
IHS Magellan
“magellan”
(a), (b)
IHSMarkit API
“ihsmarkit”
(a), (b)
IMF (International Monetary Fund) SDMX
“imf”
(b)
INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) SDMX
“insee”
(b)
Moody’s Economy.com
“economy”
(a), (b)
NOAA (National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration)
“noaa”
(b)
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) SDMX
“oecd”
(b)
SDMX_ML
“sdmx”
(c)
Trading Economics
“tradingeconomics”
(a), (b)
TSP Portable
“t”, “tsp”
 
UN (United Nations)
“un”
(b)
US Census
“uscensus”
(b)
WHO (World Health Organization)
“who”
(b)
World Bank
“worldbank”
(b)
(a) You must have EViews Enterprise Edition to access these databases.
(b) You must have an active connection to the internet to access these databases.
(c) You must have internet access to download these file-based databases prior to opening them with EViews.
In addition, specific types may require installation of additional software. For details see, “Notes on Particular Formats”.
The following options may be required when connecting to a remote server:
 
s=server_id, server=server_id
Server name
u=user, username=user
Username
p=pwd, password=pwd
Password
Examples
dbopen c:\data\us1
opens a database named US1 in the C:\DATA directory. The command:
dbopen us1
opens a database in the default path. If the specified database does not exist, EViews will issue an error message. You should use db or dbcreate to create a new database.
Cross-references
See “EViews Databases” for a discussion of EViews databases.
See also db and dbcreate.