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Command Language

Introduction to the GenStat Command Language
by Roger Payne, Darren Murray and Simon Harding

Download pdf guide (8.7 mb)

GenStat is a statistical system with a comprehensive system of menus providing all the standard (and many non-standard) analyses. At first sight, it looks like a standard Windows application. However, if you look more closely, you will find that the menus are defining the analyses by writing scripts in GenStat’s command language. These scripts are saved in GenStat’s Input log to give you a full and complete audit trail. More importantly, though, you can write your own scripts to do something new or non-standard, or even just to save time or automate repetitive tasks.

Once you start to write your own programs, you may want to keep them to use again
in future. The most convenient way of doing this is to form them into procedures. The use of a GenStat procedure looks exactly the same as the use of one of the standard GenStat directives. You can thus extend and customize GenStat for your own special requirements.

So by learning the command language, you can unlock the full power of GenStat, improve your productivity and extend the scope of your analyses. This Introduction was written to provide the notes for VSN’s short course on the GenStat command language, but it can be used equally well as a self-learning tool:

• it explains the basic rules that apply to all GenStat commands, and shows how you can use them alongside the menus in GenStat for Windows;
• it shows where to find help information about individual commands, or example scripts illustrating various types of analysis;
• it explains the data structures that GenStat uses to store data;
• it tells you how to define statistical models and calculations;
• it explains how you can write your own procedures.

However, it does not attempt to cover everything! Chapter 10 explains where to find further information. You will see that there are many other GenStat Guides, which can be accessed from within GenStat for Windows by selecting sub-options of the GenStat Guides option of the Help menu on the GenStat menu bar. For commands, the most useful are the two Guides to GenStat. Part 1 gives the formal definition of the GenStat language
and syntax. It then describes (in detail, with examples) the facilities for input and output, calculations, manipulation, programming and graphics. Part 2 covers GenStat’s extensive statistical facilities.