Standard use of arguments
Description
Command line arguments are intended to facilitate the running
of a sequence of jobs that require small changes to the command file
between runs. The output file name
is modified by the use of this feature if the -R option
is specified.
Command line arguments are strings listed on the command line
after basename, the command file name, or specified on the
top job control line after the !ARGS qualifier. These strings are
inserted into the command file at run time. When the input routine
finds a $n in the command file
it substitutes the nth
argument (string). n may take the values
1 ... 9 to indicate up to
9 strings after the command file name.
If the argument has 1 character, a trailing blank is attached to the character and inserted into the command file. If no argument exists, a zero is inserted. For example,
asreml rat.as alpha beta
tells ASReml to process the job in rat.as as if it read
alpha wherever
$1 appears in the command file,
beta
wherever $2 appears
(and 0 wherever $3 appears).
The use of arguments in ASReml
| in command file
| on command line
| becomes in ASReml run
|
| abc$1def
| no argument | abc0 def
|
| abc$1def
| with argument X
| abcX def
|
| abc$1def
| with argument XY |
abcXYdef
|
| abc$1def
| with argument XYZ
| abcXYZdef
|
| abc$1 def
| with argument XX |
abcXX def
|
| abc$1 def
| with argument XXX |
abcXXX def
|
abc$1 def
(many spaces) | with argument XXX
| abcXXX def
|
Prompting for input
Another way to gain some interactive control of a job in the PC
environment is to insert
!? text
in the .as
file where you want to specify the rest of the line at run time. ASReml
prompts with text and waits for a response which is used
to compete the line. The !? qualifier may be used anywhere in
the job and the line is modified from that point.
Unfortunately the prompt may not appear on the
top screen under some windows operating systems in which case it may
not be obvious that ASReml is waiting for a keyboard response.
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