echo abc;def and echo "abc;def" Ifyouwishtoenteraquote(")characteratthecommandline,typeintwosuccessive quotes. Wherever possible, the operating system does not distinguish between upper and lower case characters on the command line. The words on the input line may be separated by any number of spaces or tabs. Spaces or tabs before or after the command are ignored, but at least one space must always separate a command from its arguments. A ‘!’ symbol may be used within a command line to separate multiple commands, so you can write a lengthy command sequence easily. echo abc ! dir !
base 40 Onsome occasions, such as when defining a function key with the fkey command, you will wish the system to consider a group of characters which includes spaces and tabs to be a single argument. This is done by quoting the group of characters. For example the command fkey 2 "spaces-> preserves the spaces in the string of characters, for use in the definition of function key 2. This technique allows you to define function keys from within shell files, rather than doing it from the keyboard with the function key method. Alt Ctrl Error messages produced by 1616/OS 1616/OS produces error messages which should be self-explanatory in the context of the command which was being executed.
Refer to the documentation for the particular command if the error message is not sufficient. Occasionally the system may emit obscure looking error messages from a lower level. These error messages, which result from errors and inconsistencies in user programs, file systems or possibly 1616/OS itself, are described in an appendix to the 1616/OS Programmer’s Manual . Command execution There are three basic types of command available: executable memory resident drivers inbuilt commands transient commands.
When a command is typed in and the or key is pressed, 1616/OS compares the command name with the names of all the currently installed memory resident drivers (MRD) which can be executed from the command line. If a match is made, the MRD is called to handle your command. This sort of command is referred to as an ‘executable memory resident driver’. These commands modify the way the system works. They are installed from disk by the mrdrivers file when you first start the system each day (if you have a disk drive, you may recall seeing messages about them on your display when you started the system). These Return Enter Page 24 User Tutorial Manual Command Handling