Dot variables, so named because they begin with a period (dot), are read-only system variables useful for retrieving certain kinds of information like the date, program name, etc. In many cases, the same information is available via other methods, such as XCALLs, but the dot variable approach is generally the most elegant, efficient, and transparent. They were originally considered part of the d/Basic extensions (COMPIL /D), because most of them originated with d/Basic. But over time, A-Shell has added its own dot variables and they are now available as part of the A-Shell extensions (COMPIL/X:2).
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Notes | |
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.ACCOUNT |
Evaluates to the user’s current ppn (e.g. “100,22”). |
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Number of parameters passed in the last function, procedure call, or SBX. | |
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.DATE |
Returns the date as a decimal number which displays as MMDDYY. So March 16, 2009 should return the numeric value 31609. |
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.DEVICE |
Evaluates to the user’s current device (e.g. “DSK0:”) |
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.EXPERIENCE |
Evaluates to the numeric value 100 (since “experience” level is not one of the AMOS job attributes that is emulated under A-Shell). |
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.JOBNAME |
Evaluates to the jobname. |
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.LAST_LABEL |
Name of last label passed. |
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.LAST_ROUTINE |
Name of last called function or procedure. |
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.MONTH |
Evaluates to the 3 character abbreviation for the current month. |
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.NEST_LEVEL |
Number of levels deep with nested function/procedure calls. |
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.PGMNAME |
Evaluates to the current program name. |
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.PGMVERSION |
Evaluates to the current program version (e.g. “1.2A(100)”). |
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.TERMINAL |
Evaluates to the current TRMDEF name. |
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.TIME |
Evaluates to the current time, in HHMMSS format. |
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.USERNAME |
Evaluates to the user name. |
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.YYMMDD |
Evaluates to the current date in YYMMDD (string) format. |