From: CRDGW2::CRDGW2::MRGATE::"SMTP::CRVAX.SRI.COM::RELAY-INFO-VAX" 19-JUL-1989 20:21 To: MRGATE::"ARISIA::EVERHART" Subj: Need help with undocumented Command Definition clauses Received: From KL.SRI.COM ([0.0.0.0]) by CRVAX.SRI.COM with TCP; Wed, 19 JUL 89 16:35:07 PDT Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by KL.SRI.COM with TCP; Wed, 19 Jul 89 16:04:27 PDT Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.61/1.37) id AA24855; Wed, 19 Jul 89 15:56:33 -0700 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for info-vax@kl.sri.com (info-vax@kl.sri.com) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 19 Jul 89 21:41:45 GMT From: bsu-cs!cfchiesa@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Christopher Chiesa) Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, IN, USA Subject: Need help with undocumented Command Definition clauses Message-Id: <8292@bsu-cs.bsu.edu> Sender: info-vax-request@kl.sri.com To: info-vax@kl.sri.com Hello all, I'm back, with yet another question that's sure to reveal lots of fascinating innards-of-VMS! I've been using the VERB utility for the last few months to peek into my DCL command tables, and have come across some things that VERB understands and reports, but which are NOT in the Definition Utility Reference Manual or any other documentation I've been able to find. So far, my best guess is that they're "CLI internal" substitutes or enhancements, for various "documented" CLD statements or clauses. The "mystery" clauses I've discovered so far, are: cliroutine --- takes one parameter, apparently the name of a routine within DCL; appears INSTEAD of an "image" clause specifying an external executable image filename. prefix --- takes one parameter, apparently a PARTIAL SYMBOL NAME, e.g. "prefix CLI$K_ALLO_" in the ALLOCATE verb definition, and "prefix CLI$K_SPAW_" in the SPAWN verb definition. cliflags --- takes one parameter, apparently a list of keywords repre- senting behavior options; e.g. "cliflags (mcrignore)" in several SPAWN qualifier definitions, and "cliflags (abbreviate,nostatus)" in the CONTINUE verb definition. It goes without saying (but yes, I'll say it anyway!) that there may well be other items here that I haven't run into yet! (Incidentally, how did the author of VERB find out about these, in order to make VERB parse them??) Finally, I read in the Command Definition Utility Reference Manual, under the DEFINE VERB statement, that "the first four characters of a verb name must be unique," and yet the VERB utility will not "find," for instance, the "verb" "ALLO" as an abbreviation for "ALLOCATE". Am I correct in assuming that this is an implementation detail of the VERB utility itself, rather than some hidden behavior of the Command Definition scheme? Thanks in advance for any information; don't you just LOVE undocumented stuff? Chris Chiesa -- UUCP: !{iuvax,pur-ee,uunet}!bsu-cs!cfchiesa cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP