There is one ascii input file containing cards and zero or more parameters that controls the processor. A card is the first word on a line in the input file. The card and parameter(s) are delimited by blanks or tabs. There are mandatory cards (such as STOP at the end) and optional cards (because there are defaults for example for a filename for the output, or cards like COMMENT.) In this document the mandatory CARDS are insans serif bold face, the optional CARDS are in normal style. Default parameters are underlined, and [ optional ] parameters are between square brackets.
The input file consists of a header and a tail. In the header, the general cards are placed (see Chapter 2), and in the tail the cards specific to a certain step are placed (described in the other chapters).
The order of the cards is not restricted (except the STOP card), though we advice to group them by processing step. Blank lines are allowed in the input file, but the line counter will not function properly in that case (which does not affect the processing in any way). We advice to place a comment on otherwise empty lines.
If (accidently) a certain card is used more than ones, then a WARNING is generated and the latter one is ignored (this behavior is not guaranteed, not true for PROCESS cards).
The case of cards and parameters is not restricted. We advice to use UPPER case (except for comment or c) for cards and lower case for parameters.
Text after the last expected parameter is ignored. Be careful with putting comments in like this if the number of parameters may be varied for a certain card. We normally do not make one big input file, but we use several small ones, for a group of processing steps. See also the run file in Annex B.
The examples in the next chapters will make this more clear. All keywords are described in this manual, and also in the interactive helpdoris script, and in the run script. It can occur that some keywords are not mentioned in the latter two. To obtain all possible cards, give the command:
grep keyword readinput.cc | grep else