VMS Help DCL Tips, Filespec  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    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

  Additional Information (explode) :

• Example