2 <TITLE> AMPS Block file format</TITLE>
5 <HR> <A NAME=tex2html404 HREF=subsection3_16_3.html><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC="http://geoff.biop.ox.ac.uk/latex2html/next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html402 HREF=section3_16.html><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC="http://geoff.biop.ox.ac.uk/latex2html/up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html396 HREF=subsubsection3_16_1_4.html><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC="http://geoff.biop.ox.ac.uk/latex2html/previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html406 HREF=tableofcontents3_1.html><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC="http://geoff.biop.ox.ac.uk/latex2html/contents_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
6 <B> Next:</B> <A NAME=tex2html405 HREF=subsection3_16_3.html> PostScript Fonts</A>
7 <B>Up:</B> <A NAME=tex2html403 HREF=section3_16.html> Appendices</A>
8 <B> Previous:</B> <A NAME=tex2html397 HREF=subsubsection3_16_1_4.html> STEP 2 COMMANDS</A>
10 <H2><A NAME=SECTION00016200000000000000> AMPS Block file format</A></H2>
12 <A NAME=app2><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC="http://geoff.biop.ox.ac.uk/latex2html/invis_anchor.xbm"></A>
14 The first part of a block-file contains the identifier codes of the
15 sequences that are to follow. Each code is prefixed by the > symbol, codes
16 must not contain spaces.
27 ALSCRIPT counts the number of > symbols in the beginning of the file
28 until a * symbol is found. The * signals the beginning of the
29 multiple alignment which is stored VERTICALLY, thus columns are
30 individual sequences, whilst rows are aligned positions. The * symbol
31 must lie over the first sequence. A further star in the same column
32 signals the end of the alignment. ALSCRIPT uses the number of >
33 symbols at the beginning of the file to work out how many columns to
34 read from the * position. It is therefore important that the only >
35 symbols in the file are those that define the identifiers, and the
36 only * symbols are those defining the start and end of the multiple
37 alignment. The block file can contain additional text, providing that
38 there are no more > or * symbols in the file than those used to define
39 the identifiers or alignment start and end.
41 A simple, small block-file is shown here.