VMS Help
DCL Tips

 *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    This help category contains information on syntax used when
    specifying values for various DCL commands and expressions.

  1 - Date Time

    When a command requires a qualifier that specifies a date/time
    value, the value is either an absolute time, delta time, or a
    combination of the two.

 1.1 - Absolute

    Absolute time includes a specific date or time of day. An
    absolute date/time has one of the following formats:

 	dd-mmm-yyyy
 	hh:mm:ss.cc
         dd-mmm-yyyy:hh:mm:ss.cc
 	"dd-mmm-yyyy hh:mm:ss.cc"
         TODAY
         YESTERDAY
         TOMORROW

    You can omit any of the trailing fields in the date or time. You
    can omit any of the fields in the middle of the format as long as
    you specify the punctuation marks, for example, "-mmm-yyyy hh".

 1.2 - Combination

    Combination time consists of an absolute time value plus or
    minus a delta time value. Combination time can use either of
    the following formats:

         "[absolute time][+delta time]"
          [absolute time][-delta time]

    You can omit the absolute time value. If you do, the delta
    time is offset from the current date and time. Whenever a plus
    sign (+) precedes the delta time value, enclose the entire time
    specification in quotation marks.

 1.3 - Delta

    Delta time is an offset from the current time to a time in the
    future. Delta time has the following format:

         "+[dddd-][hh:mm:ss.cc]"

    You can truncate delta time after the hour field. You can also
    omit any of the fields after the hour field format as long as you
    specify the punctuation marks.

 1.4 - Examples

    1.$ PRINT/AFTER=11-DEC-1996:13 NOVEMBER_REPORT.LIS
      $ PRINT/AFTER="11-DEC-1996 13" NOVEMBER_REPORT.LIS

      Both examples specify in absolute time that the file
      NOVEMBER_REPORT.LIS will be printed on December 11, at 1:00 p.m.

    2.$ PRINT/AFTER=11-DEC-1996:13-1:00 NOVEMBER_REPORT.LIS

      This example specifies in combination time that the file will
      be printed at 12:00 p.m. on December 11, 1996.

    3.$ PRINT/AFTER="+3" NOVEMBER_REPORT.LIS

      This example specifies in delta time that the file will be
      printed 3 hours from the present time.

  2 - Expression

    When you specify an expression, DCL evaluates values based on
    the operations specified in the expression. The values can be
    integers or character strings.

    Some expression operators are conventional mathematical
    symbols, for example, plus sign (+). Others specify logical
    and comparison operations, and consist of letters preceded and
    followed by periods; for example, .EQS. Operators are assigned a
    precedence that determines their order of evaluation. You can use
    parentheses to override this order.

    For additional information on specifying expressions, refer to
    the OpenVMS User's Manual.

 2.1 - Arithmetic

 The operator with the highest precedence in an expression is
 evaluated first. Following this, the next highest operator is
 evaluated, and so on. Operators with the same precedence are
 evaluated from left to right, as they appear in the expression.

    Operator  Precedence Description

    *         6          Arithmetic multiplication
    /         6          Arithmetic division
    +         5          Arithmetic plus
    -         5          Arithmetic minus
    .EQ.      4          Arithmetic equal
    .GE.      4          Arithmetic greater than or equal
    .GT.      4          Arithmetic greater than
    .LE.      4          Arithmetic less than or equal
    .LT.      4          Arithmetic less than
    .NE.      4          Arithmetic not equal
    .NOT.     3          Logical NOT
    .AND.     2          Logical AND
    .OR.      1          Logical OR

 2.2 - String

    The operator with the highest precedence in an expression is
    evaluated first. Following this, the next highest operator
    precedence is evaluated, and so on. Operators with the same
    precedence are evaluated from left to right, as they appear in
    the expression.

    Operator Precedence Description

    +        5         String concatenation
    -        5         String reduction
    .EQS.    4         String equal
    .GES.    4         String greater than or equal
    .GTS.    4         String greater than
    .LES.    4         String less than or equal
    .LTS.    4         String less than
    .NES.    4         String not equal

  3 - Filespec

    File specifications provide the system with the information
    necessary to identify a unique file or device. File
    specifications have the following format:

         node::device:[directory]filename.type;version

    The punctuation marks are required to separate the fields of the
    file specification. These fields are:

    node       Network node name
    device     Device name
    directory  Directory name
    filename   File name
    type       File type
    version    File version number

 3.1 - Example

  $ COPY GREEN::DISK1:[JONES]BUSINESS_REPORT.TXT;4
  _To: BUSINESS_REPORT.TXT

      This example shows how a file is specified when using the COPY
      command to copy a file to the current directory from another
      user's directory on another node.

  4 - Integer

    DCL treats all numeric values as integers. If you do not specify
    an explicit radix, numeric values are interpreted as decimal. You
    may specify an explicit radix as follows:

    %D1000 decimal radix
    %O1357 octal radix
    %X12AF hexadecimal radix

    No blanks are allowed between the radix symbol and the number.

    For additional information on specifying integers, refer to the
    OpenVMS User's Manual.

  5 - Privilege

    Your set of privileges affects the system resources and system
    functions you are allowed to use. The following table describes
    privileges and their functions:

    ACNT      Create a process for which no accounting is performed.
    ALL       Allow all privileges.
    ALLSPOOL  Allocate spooled devices.
    ALTPRI    Increase the base execution priority for any process.
    BUGCHK    Make bugcheck error log entries.
    BYPASS    Access resources without regard to UIC protection.
    CMEXEC    Change mode to Executive.
    CMKRNL    Change mode to Kernel.
    DETACH    Create detached processes.
    DIAGNOSE  Issue diagnostic I/O requests.
    EXQUOTA   Exceed resource quotas.
    GROUP     Control execution of other processes in the same group.
    GRPNAM    Enter names in the group logical name table.
    GRPPRV    Allow access to files in the group and system
              categories.
    LOG_IO    Issue logical I/O requests.
    MOUNT     Issue mount volume I/O requests.
    NETMBX    Create a network device.
    OPER      Perform system operator functions.
    PFNMAP    Create or delete sections mapped by page frame.
    PHY_IO    Issue physical I/O requests.
    PRMCEB    Create permanent common event flag clusters.
    PRMGBL    Create permanent global clusters.
    PRMMBX    Create permanent mailbox devices.
    PSWAPM    Change process swap mode.
    READALL   Bypass restrictions otherwise preventing process from
              reading a file.
    SECURITY  Perform security-related functions.
    SETPRV    Grant a process any privilege.
    SHARE     Assign a channel to a device.
    SHMEM     Create or delete data structures in shared memory.
    SYSGBL    Create system global sections.
    SYSLCK    Request locks on system resources.
    SYSNAM    Enter names in the system logical name table.
    SYSPRV    Access resources as if the process has a system UIC.
    TMPMBX    Create temporary mailbox devices.
    VOLPRO    Override protection on a volume.
    WORLD     Control the execution of any process on the system.

 5.1 - Example

  $ SHOW PROCESS/PRIVILEGES
  11-DEC-1996 10:15:43.79   User: J_BROWN     Process ID:   123000AB1
                            Node: FABLES      Process name: "J_BROWN"
  Process privileges:
   TMPMBX               may create temporary mailbox
   NETMBX               may create network device

      In this example, the SHOW PROCESS command is used to display
      privileges for the current process. The user J_BROWN has TMPMBX
      and NETMBX privileges.

  6 - Protection

    Volume and file protection is specified as follows:

         (SYSTEM:RWED,OWNER:RWED,GROUP:RWED,WORLD:RWED)

    There are four categories of protection: one for system
    processes, one for the owner of the file, one for other members
    of the owner's group, and one for members of other groups. For
    each category, any combination of four different types of access
    may be specified:

    R    read access
    W    write access
    E    execute access (for execution of images)
    D    delete access

    If you want to deny all access to a category, you must specify
    the category name without a colon, for example:

         /PROTECTION=(OWNER:RWE,GROUP,WORLD)

    For complete information on setting protections, see the OpenVMS
    Guide to System Security.

 6.1 - Example

  $ DIRECTORY/PROTECTION JUNE_REPORT.LIS
  Directory DISK1:[J_BROWN]

   JUNE_REPORT.LIS;1          (RWED,RWED,RE,)

      In this example, the user entered the DIRECTORY/PROTECTION
      command to see what the protection is for the file JUNE_
      REPORT.LIS. Users in the system and owner categories have read,
      write, execute, and delete access, users in the group category
      have read and execute access, and users in the world category
      have no access to this file.

  7 - String

    A character string value is represented as a sequence of
    characters enclosed in quotation marks (" "). A quotation mark
    in a character string must be represented by two quotation marks.
    In certain contexts, the quotation marks are optional.

    For additional information on specifying character strings, see
    the OpenVMS User's Manual.

  8 - Symbol

    A symbol is an entity that has a name and a value. The name can
    consist of letters, digits, underscores (_) and dollar sign
    ($). It can be composed of up to 255 characters. The value of
    the symbol can be a 32-bit integer or a string with zero to 255
    characters.

    Symbols are defined in DCL with the assignment statement. This is
    described under the Help topic SYMBOL_ASSIGN.

  9 - UIC

    A UIC is a user identification code that can be in either numeric
    or named format. When a DCL command requires a UIC specification,
    you can specify either format. However, the system converts all
    UICs to numeric format when determining a user's access to a data
    resource.

    A UIC in numeric format consists of a group number and a member
    number in the format:

       [group,member]

    where:

    group  is an octal number in the range 0 through 37776
           representing the group number.
    member is an octal number in the range 0 through 37776
           representing the member number.

    The square brackets are required in the UIC specification. You
    can also omit leading zeros when specifying group and member
    numbers.

    A UIC in named format consists of a member identifier and
    optionally, a group identifier, as shown in either of the
    following:

       [member]

       [group,member]

    The group and member identifiers can each contain up to 31
    alphanumeric characters and must contain at least one alphabetic
    character. The names can include the characters A through Z,
    dollar signs ($) underscores (_), and the numbers 0 through 9.
    The brackets are required in the UIC specification.

    The member number is unique for each user on the system, and is
    equivalent to the user's numeric UIC (including both the group
    and the member numbers). The group identifier is equivalent to
    only the group portion of the UIC.

    For additional information on specifying UICs, refer to the
    OpenVMS Guide to System Security.
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