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

Language Elements
NCL Summary
106160 Tandem Computers Incorporated 2–21
Built-in Functions Built-in functions provide access to information that could otherwise require
extensive coding to acquire. Like user-written functions, built-in functions are called
from expressions. A built-in function performs operations on any arguments passed
to it. It returns a result that can be used as part of further expression evaluation.
NCL provides built-in functions for operations such as:
Positioning strings
Manipulating strings
Testing strings
Formatting numbers
Testing numbers
Generating numbers
Data conversion
Returning the date and time
Returning operating system information
The syntax of built-in functions is described in the NonStop NET/MASTER NCL
Reference Manual.
Expressions and Operators Expressions can be used almost anywhere in an NCL procedure where a value is
required. Many core statements and verbs accept expressions as part of their syntax.
Expressions consist of one or more terms connected by various operators. A term can
be a symbol, quoted string, variable, parenthesized expression, or function reference.
There are five classes of operators:
Parentheses. These are used to alter the default evaluation order of an expression
and to delimit terms and expressions.
Arithmetic operators. These are used to perform arithmetic calculations.
Relational operators. These are used to compare the values of two terms. The
result is either TRUE or FALSE.
Boolean operators. These are used to perform a logical comparison between
terms. The result is either TRUE or FALSE.
String operator. This is used to concatenate terms.
Expressions and operators are discussed in more detail in the NonStop NET/MASTER
NCL Reference Manual.