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HOST FORMS DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE
Command format
Reserved words
Special characters
3–2
Each HFDL command consists of a command identifier,
parameters, and reserved words associated with the function.
The following conventions apply:
•
A semicolon (;) terminates a command.
•
A comment line begins with the word COMMENT, followed
by a comment and semicolon (;).
•
A blank space separates reserved words and parameters.
•
Commas are legal only as shown in the command syntax
flow charts.
Command information appears within the first 72 columns of
each record. Commands can continue for multiple records;
however, there is a limit of 4,096 characters allowed in one text
block. Multiple commands can appear in one record if you
separate them with semicolons.
The system ignores records containing all blanks. You can use
them to separate command statements.
Reserved words appear in bold uppercase text in the command
syntax flow charts in this chapter. You can abbreviate many
reserved words to the first three characters (except FMT n , where
you must specify the integer n ). Refer to the "Approved
abbreviations for reserved words" appendix for the list of
abbreviations you can use. Avoid using reserved words as
section or form names.
Use the following special characters to meet certain requirements
within the command statements:
•
A single quote (') encloses a text string, for example, 'This
is a font count' produces "This is a font count" in the
printed version. When you use a reserved word such as
"font" in a string, it is not processed as a command.
•
A pound symbol (#) within a text string shifts the text
between uppercase and lowercase characters, and vice
versa. Each string begins with an uppercase character. For
example, F#IRST produces "First" in the printed version.
To shift back to uppercase characters, you must enter
another pound symbol (#) character in the text string. For
example, R#EV#A produces "RevA" in the printed version.
You can substitute the pound symbol (#) with any other
character by using the SHIFT operand at the COMPILE
command. Refer to the "Command Syntax" section in the
"Managing and printing sample forms" chapter for
information on how to use this operand.
•
An exclamation point (!) specifies a character in the font
character set, not the keyboard character. Enter an
exclamation point (!) and the ASCII hexadecimal code point
for the character you want to print. For example, 65!7B
HOST FORMS DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE 3.2 FOR IBM MVS CREATING FORMS
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