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+<HEAD>
+<TITLE> AMPS Block file format</TITLE>
+</HEAD>
+<BODY><P>
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+<H2><A NAME=SECTION00016200000000000000> AMPS Block file format</A></H2>
+<P>
+<A NAME=app2><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE SRC="http://geoff.biop.ox.ac.uk/latex2html/invis_anchor.xbm"></A>
+<P>
+The first part of a block-file contains the identifier codes of the
+sequences that are to follow. Each code is prefixed by the > symbol, codes
+must not contain spaces.
+<P>
+e.g.
+<PRE><TT>
+>HAHU
+>Trypsin
+>A0046
+>Seq1</TT></PRE>
+<P>
+etc.
+<P>
+ALSCRIPT counts the number of > symbols in the beginning of the file
+until a * symbol is found. The * signals the beginning of the
+multiple alignment which is stored VERTICALLY, thus columns are
+individual sequences, whilst rows are aligned positions. The * symbol
+must lie over the first sequence. A further star in the same column
+signals the end of the alignment. ALSCRIPT uses the number of >
+symbols at the beginning of the file to work out how many columns to
+read from the * position. It is therefore important that the only >
+symbols in the file are those that define the identifiers, and the
+only * symbols are those defining the start and end of the multiple
+alignment. The block file can contain additional text, providing that
+there are no more > or * symbols in the file than those used to define
+the identifiers or alignment start and end.
+<P>
+A simple, small block-file is shown here.
+<P>
+<PRE><TT>
+>Seq_1
+>A0231
+>HAHU
+>Four_Alpha
+>Globin
+>GLobin_C
+*
+ARNDLQ
+AAAAAA
+PPPPPP
+PP PPP
+WW WWW
+LLLLLL
+IIVVLL
+*</TT></PRE>
+<P>
+<HR>
+
+</BODY>
+<P><ADDRESS>
+gjb@bioch.ox.ac.uk
+</ADDRESS>
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