Command File

Purpose

ASReml is essentially a batch program controlled with a command file. The command file normally has a filename extension .as.

Which editor

You will need an ASCII file editor to create the command file and to view the various output files.
  • On unix systems,
    • vi and emacs are commonly used. ASReml-W is also available.
  • Under Windows,
    • there are several suitable program editors available such as ASReml-W and ConText.

    General rules

    In the ASReml command file
  • all characters following a
    • # symbol on a line are ignored,
  • all blank lines are ignored,
  • lines beginning with
    • ! followed by a blank are copied to the .asr file as comments for the output,
  • a blank is the usual separator; TAB is also a separator,
  • maximum line length is 2000 characters,
  • the
    • // operator splits a line into two logical lines,
  • a comma as the last character on the line is used to
    • indicate that the current list is continued on the next line; a comma is not needed when ASReml knows how many values to read,
  • reserved words used in specifying the linear model
    • are case sensitive; they need to be typed exactly as defined: they may not be abbreviated.
  • a qualifier is a particular letter sequence beginning with an
    • ! which sets an option or changes some aspect of ASReml;
  • some qualifiers require arguments,
  • qualifiers must appear on the correct line,
  • qualifier identifiers are not case sensitive,
  • qualifier identifiers may be truncated to 3 characters.

    • A minimal job

    Every commandfile has at least four lines, in the order
  • Title line - gives a heading for the job
  • data field names - as they occur in the data file (indent these lines)
  • name of the data file
  • model line

    • Example


     NIN alliance trial 1989      # Title line
  variety !A                  # names of data fields
  id
  pid
  raw
  repl 4
  nloc
  yield
  lat
  long
  row 22
  column 11
 nin89.asd !skip 1 !DOPATH $1 # datafile line

 !PATH 1                      # RCB analysis
 tabulate yield ~ variety     # request simple variety means
 yield ~ mu variety !r repl   # Model Line
 predict variety              # request predicted variety means

 !PATH 2                       # Spatial Analysis
 yield ~ mu variety
 predict variety
 1 1                           # Variance header
 row row AR1 0.5
 column column AR1 0.5

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