NET/MASTER Network Control Language (NCL) Programmer's Guide

Introducing NCL Procedures and Functions
Procedures and Functions
106160 Tandem Computers Incorporated 6–3
The following screen shows the results of executing the procedure:
(09:58) --------------------- OPERATOR CONTROL SERVICES ----------------------
START ZEX0601N
Default date is: 29 AUG 1994
Date 1 is: 94.241
Date 2 is: MON 29-AUG-1994
Date 3 is: 29-AUG-1994
Date 4 is: 29/08/94
Date 5 is: 08/29/94
Date 6 is: 94/08/29
Date 7 is: 940829
Date 8 is: 19940829
Date 9 is: 728168
Time A is: 35899.242885
Time C is: 9.58am
Time H is: 9
Time L is: 09:58:19.251284
NNM1005 START ZEX0601N PROCESSING COMPLETE. NCLID 000619
_____________________________________________________________________________
---------- ------------------ NonStop NET/MASTER D30 ---------------- --------
M=>
Each SAY statement sends a line of output to the OCS message display area. In each
line, the DATE() function call is replaced by the result of the DATE built-in function.
Syntax of Built-in Functions
When you call a built-in function, you usually pass one or more values to it called
parameters. You pass the parameters in a list called a parameter list. The parameter
list must follow the name of the built-in function and you must use parentheses (( )) to
enclose the parameters. If there is more than one parameter in the list, the parameters
are separated by commas (,). The built-in function uses the parameters to work out the
result.
Most built-in functions expect to receive parameters and, if you pass parameters, all
built-in functions expect to receive them in a certain order. The values you pass as
parameters are placed, in order, in the parameter variables &1 through &n, where n is
a positive integer and is the number of the last parameter variable. Parameter
variables are created automatically by NCL when parameters are passed to a built-in
function.
Note You must follow the name of a built-in function by parentheses even if the parameter list is empty.
The DATE built-in function is an example of a function that does not require a
parameter. If you use the following form of the DATE built-in function, it returns the
date in the default date format (dd mmm yyyy):
DATE() /* Result is 24 AUG 1992 */