A name or string attribute often selects one of a set of options: \madxmp xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx¯USE, PERIOD=lhc; // expand the LHC sequence

It may also refer to a user-defined object: \madxmp xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx¯TWISS, FILE=optics; // specifies the name of the OPTICS output file

It may also define a string: \madxmp TITLE, ”LHC version 6.2”;

The case of letters is only significant if a string is enclosed in quotes, otherwise all characters are converted to lowercase at reading.

On the other hand, strings that do not contain blanks do not need to be enclosed in quotes.

Example: \madxmp CALL, FILE = ”my.file”;
CALL, FILE = my.file;
CALL, FILE = MY.FILE;
CALL, FILE = ”MY.FILE”;
CALL, FILE = ’MY.FILE’; In the first three cases, \madxwill try to read a file named my.file, in the last two it will try to read the file named MY.FILE.

A string attribute makes alphanumeric information available, e.g. a title or a file name. It can contain any characters, enclosed in single (’) or double (”) quotes, except for quotes of the type used as its delimiter.

Examples: \madxmp TITLE, ’This is a title for the program run ”test”’;

SYSTEM, ”ln -fns some-lengthy-directory-name local-link”;