Syntax Rules

General rules

The command file should have a filename extention .as or .asc. 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,

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,

names of predefined

model terms and variance structures 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.