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HP OpenVMS Systemsask the wizard |
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The Question is: Greetings Wizard! I always thought that an unterminated DCL command line (ie: $ with nothing else on the line) was 'unfavoured' and was going to be unsupported at some stage. Then I got my out-of-the-box 7.3 system and found that the template command files in sys$manager have exactly this in them! Can you shed any words of wisdom on this? Many Thanks! The Answer is : A record within a DCL command procedure file containing the $ character (and potentially whitespace characters) can and should be accepted as a null DCL command, and this should be (better) documented. Examples of the use of a command procedure line containing solely the $ character abound throughout the OpenVMS documentation set, though related wording within the user's guide does not explicitly call out this particular behavior. This record is differentiated from a record containing only whitespace (or a blank record; containing no characters), which can and should be interpreted as input data intended for use by the immediately preceeding command. This particular construct is quite commonly used throughout OpenVMS and throughout many customer applications to format a DCL command procedure for improved readability and easier support. The OpenVMS Wizard will pass a suggestion along for inclusion into a future edition of the OpenVMS User's Manual. This update will not be included in the OpenVMS V7.3-1 documentation set, nor is the OpenVMS Wizard in a position to state which particular future release of the OpenVMS documentation set will include this particular improvement.
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