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WRDS: How to Search

A getting started guide for WRDS

Browser-Based Access

WRDS offers a common web interface and consistent data format across all datasets. Log in to your WRDS account, under Subscriptions, select a database, and then narrow down to extract your desired dataset in your chosen format in .txt, .csv, .xlsx, .dat, and .sav, etc.

On the search form, proceed with the following:

1. Select Date Range

2. Select your company codes or tickers, the options include:

a. Manually entering identifiers

b. Uploading a text file containing a list of identifiers that are recognizable by WRDS

c. The entire database

3. Select Variables

4. Select Output Format

When you submit a query, it runs on WRDS servers, and your results will be made available for you to download when it is complete.  

Please consult the WRDS Web Queries page within your WRDS account for more information. 

 

 

WRDS Cloud

WRDS allows you to explore a wealth of datasets seamlessly with WRDS Cloud, a high-performance computing system offering direct, command-line access to WRDS' extensive data repositories.

Connect securely via SSH, enabling direct interaction with WRDS datasets in supported programming languages:

  • SAS
  • Python
  • R
  • Stata (requires active Stata license with StataCorp)

Please consult the Introduction to WRDS Cloud page within your WRDS account for more information.

Connecting Remotely

RDS data is further accessible remotely from the comfort of your workstation or laptop, through many popular programming applications.


You can connect to WRDS and access WRDS datasets in the following interactive applications:

  • SAS via PC-SAS/Connect
  • Python via Jupyter Notebooks or Spyder
  • R via RStudio
  • MATLAB
  • Stata

Please consult the Programming at WRDS page within your WRDS account for more information.