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Conference vaxaxp::vmsnotes

Title:	VAX and Alpha VMS
Notice:	This is a new VMSnotes, please read note 2.1
Moderator:	VAXAXP::BERNARDO

Created:	Wed Jan 22 1997
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	703
Total number of notes:	3722

515.0. "USE AND RESTRICTIONS OF DCL$PATH" by CSC32::G_BURTT () Wed Apr 23 1997 13:00

Can someone point me to where the use and/or restrictions of DCL$PATH is
documented.  Have a customer that has this logical defined.  If he just types in
an "*" it goes out to execute the first .COM or .EXE file encountered.  Is this
expected behaviour????

Gary Burtt
Colorado CSC

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
515.1		HYDRA::SCHAFER	Mark Schafer, SPE MRO	`Wed Apr 23 1997 13:08`	4
	V6.2 New Features Manual calls this "Automatic Foreign Commands" and says, "for more information, see the OpenVMS User's Manual." Mark
515.2	Expected	EVMS::DAVIDB::DMILLER	This bug fix broke what???????	`Wed Apr 23 1997 18:01`	23
	Yes, it's expected behavior. The way DCL uses DCL$PATH is it does a $PARSE/$SEARCH on what would be called an invalid verb without the feature turned on. It's most useful when the filename you want to execute contains a character that isn't valid as a verb (Such as "-"). $ type do-it.com $ show sym p1 $ type do.com $ show sym p1 $ show sym p2 $ do-it arg %DCL-W-IVVERB, unrecognized command verb - check validity and spelling \DO\ $ define dcl$path [] $ do-it arg P1 = "-IT" P2 = "ARG" $ do%it arg P1 = "ARG"
515.3		AUSS::GARSON	DECcharity Program Office	`Wed Apr 23 1997 22:19`	6
	re .* Wildcards should not be accepted in this situation - very poor usability. Yes, wildcarding works, as has been noted in prior discussions on this topic. I wouldn't recommend relying on it.