TR.1.2 Command Formats

Free-Format Input

All input to STAAD.Pro is in free-format style. Input data items should be separated by blank spaces (not commas) from the other input data items. Quotation marks are never needed to separate any alphabetic words such as data, commands or titles. Limit a data item to 24 characters.

Commenting Input

For documentation of a STAAD data file, the facility to provide comments is available. Comments can be included by providing an asterisk (*) mark as the first non-blank character in any line. The line with the comment is "echoed" in the output file but not processed by the program.

Example

JOINT LOAD
* THE FOLLOWING IS AN EQUIPMENT LOAD
2 3 7 FY 35.0
* etc.

Meaning of Underlining in the Manual

Exact command formats are described in the latter part of this section. Many words in the commands and data may be abbreviated. The full word intended is given in the command description with the portion actually required (the abbreviation) underlined.

For example, if the word MEMBER is used in a command, only the portion MEMB need be input. It is clearer for others reading the output if the entire word is used, but an experienced user may desire to use the abbreviations.

Meaning of Braces and Parenthesis

In some command formats, braces enclose a number of choices, which are arranged vertically or separated by a | character. One and only one of the choices can be selected. However, several of the listed choices may be selected if an asterisk (*) mark is located outside the braces.

Example

{XY | YZ | XZ}

In the above example, you must make a choice of XY or YZ or XZ.

Note: In some instances, the choices will be explicitly defined using "or" for clarification.

Example

*{FX | FY | FZ}

Here, you can choose one or all of the listing (FX, FY and FZ), in any order.

Parentheses, ( ), enclosing a portion of a command indicate that the enclosed portion is optional. The presence or absence of this portion affects the meaning of the command, as is explained in the description of the particular command.

Example

PRINT (MEMBER) FORCES

PERFORM ANALYSIS (PRINT LOAD DATA)

In the first line, the word MEMBER may be omitted with no change of the meaning of the command. In the second line, the PRINT LOAD DATA command may also be omitted, in which case the load data will not be printed.

Multiple Data Separator

Multiple data can be provided on a single line, if they are separated by a semicolon (;) character. One restriction is that a semicolon can not separate consecutive commands. They must appear on separate lines.

Example

MEMBER INCIDENCES
1  1  2;  2  2  3;  3  3  4

etc.

Possible Error:

PRINT FORCES; PRINT STRESSES

In the above case, only the PRINT FORCES command is processed and the PRINT STRESSES command is ignored.

Listing Data

In some STAAD command descriptions, the word "list" is used to identify a list of joints, members/elements, or loading cases. The format of a list can be defined as follows:

list = *{ i₁ i₂ i₃ … | i₁ TO i₂ (BY i₃) | X or Y or Z }

TO means all integers from the first (i₁) to the second (i₂) inclusive. BY means that the numbers are incremented by an amount equal to the third data item (i₃). If BY i₃ is omitted, the increment will be set to one. Sometimes the list may be too long to fit on one line, in which case the list may be continued to the next line by providing a hyphen preceded by a blank. Also, only a list may be continued and not any other type of data.

Instead of a numerical list, a single group-name may be entered if that group was previously defined.

Instead of a numerical list, the specification X ( or Y or Z) may be used. This specification will include all MEMBERs parallel to the global direction specified. Note that this is not applicable to JOINTs or ELEMENTs.

Note: ALL, BEAM, PLATE, SOLID. Do not use these unless the documentation for a command specifically mentions them as available for that command. ALL means all members and elements, BEAM means all members, etc.

Continuing a command to the next line

Only lists may be continued to the next line by ending the line with a blank and hyphen (see above) with few exceptions: Multilinear spring supports, Supports, Control/Dependent. Others have special types of continuations. Please follow the command descriptions.

Example

2 4 7 TO 13 BY 2 19 TO 22 -
28 31 TO 33 FX 10.0

This list of items is the same as:

2 4 7 9 11 13 19 20 21 22 28 31 32 33 FX 10.0

Possible Error:

3 5 TO 9 11 15 -
FX 10.0

In this case, the continuation mark for list items is used when list items are not continued. This will result in an error message or possibly unpredictable results.