From:	CRDGW2::CRDGW2::MRGATE::"SMTP::CRVAX.SRI.COM::RELAY-INFO-VAX" 19-JUL-1989 20:21
To:	MRGATE::"ARISIA::EVERHART"
Subj:	Need help with undocumented Command Definition clauses

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Date: 19 Jul 89 21:41:45 GMT
From: bsu-cs!cfchiesa@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu  (Christopher Chiesa)
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, IN, USA
Subject: Need help with undocumented Command Definition clauses
Message-Id: <8292@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
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Hello all,

I'm back, with yet another question that's sure to reveal lots of fascinating
innards-of-VMS!

I've been using the VERB utility for the last few months to peek into my DCL
command tables, and have come across some things that VERB understands and
reports, but which are NOT in the Definition Utility Reference Manual or any
other documentation I've been able to find.  So far, my best guess is that 
they're "CLI internal" substitutes or enhancements, for various "documented"
CLD statements or clauses.

The "mystery" clauses I've discovered so far, are:

   cliroutine    --- takes one parameter, apparently the name of a routine 
                     within DCL; appears INSTEAD of an "image" clause specifying
                     an external executable image filename.

   prefix        --- takes one parameter, apparently a PARTIAL SYMBOL NAME,
                     e.g. "prefix CLI$K_ALLO_" in the ALLOCATE verb definition,
                     and "prefix CLI$K_SPAW_" in the SPAWN verb definition.

   cliflags      --- takes one parameter, apparently a list of keywords repre-
                     senting behavior options; e.g. "cliflags (mcrignore)" in
                     several SPAWN qualifier definitions, and 
                     "cliflags (abbreviate,nostatus)" in the CONTINUE verb
                     definition.

It goes without saying (but yes, I'll say it anyway!) that there may well be 
other items here that I haven't run into yet!  (Incidentally, how did the author
of VERB find out about these, in order to make VERB parse them??)

Finally, I read in the Command Definition Utility Reference Manual, under
the DEFINE VERB statement, that "the first four characters of a verb name must
be unique," and yet the VERB utility will not "find," for instance, the "verb"
"ALLO" as an abbreviation for "ALLOCATE".  Am I correct in assuming that this
is an implementation detail of the VERB utility itself, rather than some hidden
behavior of the Command Definition scheme?

Thanks in advance for any information; don't you just LOVE undocumented stuff?

   Chris Chiesa
-- 
UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee,uunet}!bsu-cs!cfchiesa 
cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP                                           

