[rescue] VMS for VAXstation

[John Francini]

Sure you can.  The syntax is:

dir devname:[*]

The root of the device is [000000].

Unlike UNIX, the root directory can only hold directories and ODS-2
(filesystem) metadata files.

So assuming you have a single SCSI disk on your VAXstation:

dir dka0:[*]

will walk the ENTIRE directory tree on that disk.

Symbols defined with values starting with $ are aliases for executables;
values starting with @ are aliases for command files.  Otherwise, symbols are
generalized variables in DCL. And how you define them makes a difference too:

:= defines a symbol that only exists in this "command level" or procedure;
when the procedure exits, the symbol is lost.
:== defines a symbol that lives in the process-level symbol table - it's
available to all command levels and exists after a command file exits.

The colon is significant: when defining numeric values:

	$ a := 123

and
	$ a :== 123

define $A as a symbol containing the string "123", whereas:

	$ a = 123

and

	$ a == 123

define $A as a symbol containing the integer 123.

j



On 10 Aug 2013, at 9:29, Steve Sandau <ssandau at gwi.net> wrote:

> Thanks for the responses, guys. That is *exactly* what I was missing.
>
> The logical name thing is the biggest one. Keeping a cluster in mind while
thinking about those really helps. too. I guess I want to trace the logical
names back to the device:directory names so that I can get a picture of the
file structure. I was looking for a way to do a directory of a device, but
that doesn't appear to be possible.
>
> The filespec stuff makes sense enough; I just need to get better at the
syntax so every command doesn't take three or four tries. ;-) I see now that
the .COM files are like shell scripts or batch files. Knowing what DCL is
makes more of the reading I've done makes sense. I have edited a couple of
.COM files for startup tasks like TCP/IP and an additional drive.
>
> I'm thinking of symbols as aliases more or less. Symbols explain why I can
run things that don't seem to exist as a file. I see I can get a list with
"SHOW SYMBOL *" too.
>
> I have read parts of the System Manager's manual but seem to have missed
some basic concepts. Thanks for giving me something more to work with. I think
this is going to be interesting for a while.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Steve
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