TACL Reference Manual

Statements and Programs
HP NonStop TACL Reference Manual—429513-018
5-5
Directives
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Process handle
A process handle contains ten unsigned integers that identify a single named or
unnamed process among all processes that are running or have run in one or more
system nodes. The process handle is an internal form of identification for a process.
System messages, completion code STRUCTs, and SPI buffers contain process
handle information.
TACL creates a process name based on what you specify and what the current
defaults are. If you do not specify a node name, then TACL uses the current default
system.
DEFINEs as Arguments
A number of TACL functions accept DEFINEs as arguments. A DEFINE is a named set
of attributes and associated values. In a DEFINE (as with an ASSIGN command), you
can specify information to be communicated to processes you start. The operating
system (file system or I/O processes) usually processes DEFINEs, while application
programs or run-time libraries process ASSIGNs.
TACL stores DEFINEs in its process file segment (PFS) and can propagate them to
processes you start. Some TACL functions permit you to use templates in place of
actual DEFINE names. For information about DEFINE templates, see Section 2,
Lexical Elements Commands and built-in functions that support DEFINEs are
identifiable by the appearance of DEFINE or DEFMODE in their titles. For more
information about DEFINEs, see individual command and function descriptions in this
manual, the TACL Programming Guide, the Guardian Programmer’s Guide, and the
Guardian User’s Guide.
Directives
TACL directives are for use only in files that contain TACL statements. There are four
types of directives:
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?BLANK
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?FORMAT
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?SECTION
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?TACL
All TACL directives start with a question mark (?).
Note. The format of a process handle is defined by the TACL software and is subject to
change in future RVUs.
Note. Question marks are used for two purposes in TACL: for editing previous command lines
and for specifying the start of a TACL directive. To start a line with a question mark for another
purpose, such as loading DDL commands, use two question marks. TACL discards the first
question mark and any adjacent spaces and treats the remainder of the line as text.