Generate a first dataset

Now you're ready to run your first study.

In the terminal, type the following:

opensafely exec ehrql:v1 generate-dataset analysis/dataset_definition.py

pressing Enter once you've typed the command.

This command makes use of files that already exist in the repository to generate a dummy dataset.

The first time you run this command, it may take a few seconds to download the required software. Eventually, you should see output that contains lines like the following:

…
[info     ] Compiling dataset definition from analysis/dataset_definition.py
[info     ] Building dataset and writing results
…

followed by the dataset displayed in the terminal in CSV format.

This should look something like the following, although the data you see will differ, because it is randomly generated:

patient_id,sex
1,unknown
2,male
3,unknown
4,unknown
5,female
6,unknown
7,intersex
8,unknown
9,intersex
10,male

Notice the columns: patient_id and sex.

In the next part of the tutorial, we will see how to add another data column.