A subject of frequent confusion for elegant users is the distinction between setup and action commands. An “action” command causes elegant to immediately perform a specific computation or set of computations. In contrast, a “setup” command tells elegant how to perform computations when it later encounters a “major” action command (one of analyze_map, find_aperture, frequency_map, momentum_aperture, optimize, or track). (N.B.: After each major action command, the problem space is wiped clear. To peform further computations requires introduction of a new run_setup command.)
Several commands are switchable between action and setup modes. These include the coupled_ twiss_output, correction_matrix_output, twiss_output, find_aperture, matrix_output, and sasefel commands. Except for find_aperture, all of the commands that can run in both modes have the output_at_each_step parameter, which is used to switch between the modes. In the case of find_aperture, the switch is accomplished using the optimization_mode parameter. Regardless of which parameter is present, unless the parameter is given a value of 1, the command operates in action mode. Further, if the command is used in setup mode and no relevant action command is present later in the file, then the requested will not be performed.
Typically one wants to use these switchable commands in setup mode whenever one is simulating random errors, performing a parameter scan, or performing optimization. When in setup mode, the indicated computations will be performed repeatedly, e.g., for each set of errors, for each step in the parameter scan, or for use in each evaluation of the optimization penalty function.