Range

A command will operate on all possible target objects of the command (e.g., zones, balls, blocks, grid points, structural elements, etc.).

A range, when applied to a command, provides the means to restrict the operation of the command to a subset of target objects. The subset is defined by range elements, which are the keywords (+ values) that follow the range keyword in the command. The term range phrase refers to the combination of the range keyword and one or more following range elements. The reference list of range elements can be accessed by clicking any range link throughout the documentation.

The range phrase, when used, must always appear at the end of the command. In most cases, ranges are optional, though in some cases they are required. Throughout this documentation, the appearance of <range> or range at the end of a command indicates that a range phrase is optionally accepted or required (respectively). The signature of the zone apply command, for example:

zone apply keyword ... <range>

Most often, the use of ranges will occur as above — as a keyword appearing at the end of a command. That said, there is a model range command. The purpose of this command is to create (or delete) a named range. However, the resulting named range is not applied to anything until it is utilized as a named-range element within a range phrase. Further detail may be found in the topic Named Ranges.

Note

Unless a range phrase is used on a command, the action of any command in will be applied to all possible target objects of the command.