Minitab Chapter 7 Session Commands and Execs

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Minitab Chapter 7 Session Commands and Execs

• Presented For
• IET603 Section 200
• Dr. Ahmed Zargari
• by
• Rick Wagoner

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Session Commands and Execs Overview

• Session commands are the commands generated by
  Minitab when a menu command is issued. These
  commands are collectively referred to as Command
  Language and are stored in the History window.
• If session commands are used often it may be
  beneficial to enable command language in the
  Session window. This will let you see the
  session commands in the session window along with
  all other text output. You can also input
  session commands right in the session window.

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Executing Session Commands

• Session commands can be entered in two places in
  Minitab. The first is the Command Line Editor
  and the second is the Session Window.
• The Command Line Editor is more convenient for
  most users but experienced users get used to
  typing commands in the Session Window.
• To use the Command Line Editor you must select
  Edit and then Command Line Editor. Next you
  enter your commands and then click on Submit
  Commands.
• To repeat a block of commands choose Window and
  then History. Select the block of commands to
  repeat and then click Edit Copy. Once in the
  Command Line Editor press Ctrl-V and then click
  Submit Commands.

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Basic Rules for TypingSession Commands

• To properly enter command you must start by
  typing the main command followed by any
  arguments. When using subcommands you must end
  the main command with a semicolon which is
  followed by the subcommand and subcommand
  arguments. The very last line of the command
  should be ended with a period.
• Arguments can be variables, text strings, and
  numbers. Variables should enclosed in single
  quotation marks. Variable names and numbers are
  interchangeable. You specify a range of
  variables by using a hyphen between the first and
  last variable. You should enclose text strings
  in double quotes. Do not enclose numbers in
  quotes unless you wish it to appear as text. To
  specify a range of numbers, abbreviate the
  sequence by using a colon between the first and
  last number in the range.

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Using Execs

• Execs are a collection of commands that execute
  in sequence with input coming from the same
  location and output going to the same location
  from one execution to the next.
• To create an Exec you perform your initial
  analysis using menu and session commands as you
  prefer. Then from the History window you must
  select the desired session commands and choose
  Edit and then Copy. Next you must open a text
  editor and paste the selected text into the
  editor. This file must be saved as plain text
  (ASCII or TXT format).
• To used the Exec just created you must be in an
  open worksheet that contains the data the Exec
  will process. Now you should choose File Other
  Files and then Run an Exec. Next click Select
  File. Choose the proper directory and the file
  needed and then click Open. The Exec will run.
• An Exec will run once by default but you can
  choose to have it run many times.