NET/MASTER Network Control Language (NCL) Reference Manual

The Components of a Verb
Verb Syntax and Variable Access Methods
106126 Tandem Computers Incorporated 11–3
Optional Equal Sign (=)
The equal sign (=) is optional. The following examples show verbs with and without
the equal sign (=):
ASSIGN VARS &A* GENERIC
ASSIGN VARS=&A* GENERIC
FILE OPEN ID=LOGFILE1 MAP=$MSG
FILE OPEN ID LOGFILE1 MAP $MSG
INTREAD TYPE RESP
INTREAD TYPE=REQ
WRITE DATA=Hi there
WRITE DATA My message
If you omit the equal sign (=), you do not have to separate the keyword and its
qualifier by a blank if they still result in two symbols after abuttal. (Abuttal is
discussed in Section 10, “Expressions and Operators.”) Here are some examples in
which you do require blanks after a keyword:
What You Type Meaning
INTCLEAR TYPE ANY Abutting TYPE and ANY results in a single symbol.
VARTABLE ADD ID XYZ KEY ABC Abutting ID and XYZ results in a single symbol;
abutting KEY and ABC results in a single symbol.
Here are some examples in which you do not require blanks after a keyword:
What You Type Meaning
PAUSE VARS(&A,&B,&C) The opening parenthesis delimits VARS and the list of
variables.
WRITE DATA&SYS.OCS.ID The ampersand (&) delimits DATA and the variable name.
If you omit the equal sign, it is recommended that you separate keywords and
qualifiers by blanks. Section 8, “Compiler Operation,” describes the rules for
delimiting a lexical element.
Qualifiers to the Keyword
A qualifier to a keyword can be a constant, a variable, or an expression. Whether a
qualifier must be constant depends on the verb and the keyword of the verb. Here are
some examples in which the qualifier must be constant:
What You Type Comment
ASSIGN OPT=VALUE … VALUE is a constant.
VARTABLE GET ID=LO FIELDS=DATA … DATA is a constant.