Chapter 2 27
Command Definitions A-B
Commands and Parameters
Commands and Parameters
MPE/iX commands tell the computer to perform a specific function. The parameters you
enter for each command tell the computer to perform the function in a specific way.
MPE/iX uses four classifications of parameters:
• Required parameters.
• Optional parameters.
• Keyword parameters.
• Positional parameters.
These four classifications of parameters are briefly defined below. To understand the
command syntax diagrams, refer to the Conventions pages in the front of this manual.
Required Parameters
If a command has any required parameters, they must be entered or MPE/iX displays an
error message. In the syntax diagrams for each command in this chapter, required
parameters are either surrounded by no other marks or by braces { }. In the following
example, since myfile is not surrounded by any marks, it is a required parameter:
BUILD myfile
In some cases, you must select one parameter from a list of two or more parameters. In the
following example, you must provide either a job number or a session number since these
parameters are surrounded by braces:
ALTJOB [#Jnnn | #Snnn]
Optional Parameters
If a command has any optional parameters, you can either specify or ignore them,
depending upon how you want the command to execute. In the syntax diagrams for each
command in this chapter, optional parameters are surrounded by brackets [ ]. If you
ignore optional parameters, MPE/iX uses the system-defined default values for each
parameter. In the following example, [;PASS] is an optional parameter since it is
surrounded by brackets:
NEWGROUP groupname [;PASS=[password]]
