USE

This command is no longer available in the menus, but is retained for use in the command line.

The command allows the user to enter information about a specimen, in terms of characters selected according to categories (e.g. leaves, fruit, inflorescence, "available" - see Keywords). After the characters have been selected, the program prompts for the character value(s) exhibited by the specimen. Character values can be changed at any stage by specifying the character in a CHANGE command or another USE command, and characters can be completely removed from the specimen description by means of the DELETE command. The characters currently in use are represented by the keyword USED (see Keywords). These characters, and the values that have been entered for them, are displayed in the main window, and can be displayed again by entering DESCRIBE SPECIMEN USED.

Syntax of command line: USE switch c1,v1 c2,v2 ...

where c1, c2, ... are character numbers, ranges, or keywords, and v1, v2, ... are state values (or numerical or text values, depending on the character type). The state values and the preceding commas are optional; if they are not specified, the program prompts for them.

The optional switch /M suppresses the warning message when characters that have already been used are specified.

The command-word ("USE") is optional (unless c 1 is a keyword): any input line starting with a number is assumed to be a USE command. Examples:

  • 17
  • USE 3 10-12
  • USE lemmas
  • 4,1 7,2-4/7 26,1.2-2.6 biochemistry,1/2 104,tundra
  • "/" indicates alternative values ("or"), and "-" indicates a range of values ("to"). If the value of a text character contains spaces, it must be enclosed in quotation marks (").

    Example:

    Blanks may be used in text values to control matching of parts of words; for example, " tropical" will match "tropical" and "tropically" but not "subtropical".

    A value consisting of a single blank is treated as a special case. It matches any text recorded in the data, even text without blanks.

    Several strings separated by "/" may be specified for text characters. If MATCH is set to E or S, every string must be present to constitute a match; if MATCH is set to O, the presence of any of the strings is sufficient. Example:

    The MATCH U and I settings do not affect text characters, for which unknown and inapplicable attributes are never treated as matches. See also SET MATCH, SET FIX, SET EXACT, Keywords.