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

Language Elements
NCL Summary
2–14 106160 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Verbs and Variables
A key feature of most verbs is that they deal with data using variables. Verbs can split
data and place the parts into variables. They can read variables to obtain data. They
can change data in variables. Accordingly, many verb operands allow you to create
and refer to multiple variables.
By ending a variable name using the asterisk (*) as a wild card, you can refer to all
variables that begin with the variable name: for example, &ABC* refers to all variables
that begin with &ABC. Operands used by many verbs that can create and refer to
multiple variables are the ARGS, VARS, RANGE, GENERIC, and MDO operands.
ARGS, VARS, RANGE, GENERIC, and MDO Operands
The ARGS, VARS, RANGE, and GENERIC operands work with variables containing
data that is not structured in any predefined way. Refer to the discussion of verb
syntax and variable access methods in the NonStop NET/MASTER NCL Reference
Manual for more information about these operands.
Hint To improve the performance of an NCL process, when you are using either the ARGS or VARS=&*
operand and you know the number of variables used by a verb, also use the RANGE operand to reduce
the number of variables created. (By default, 64 variables are created.)
When a verb uses the MDO operand, it explicitly refers to a variable called a mapped
data object (MDO) variable. MDO variables contain data called mapped data, which
are structured in a predefined way, according to an entity called a map. Maps and the
interpretation of mapped data are handled by the NonStop NET/MASTER MS service
called Mapping Services.
PARSE and SEGMENT Operands
Other operands that split data and place the parts into variables are the PARSE and
SEGMENT operands. PARSE is also a verb in its own right. You can use it to split
data in many ways.
ASSIGN and DROP Verbs
You can use the ASSIGN and DROP verbs to manipulate multiple variables in a single
operation.
ASSIGN has four functions. The default function of ASSIGN assigns the same value to
a range of variables, deletes the values of a range of variables, or transfers the values of
one range of variables to another range of variables.
The second function of ASSIGN queries maps and manipulates MDO variables. The
third and fourth functions of ASSIGN manipulate the settings of variables used by
panels.