Marc's Place

1  INQUIRE
   Reads a value from SYS$COMMAND (usually the terminal in
   interactive mode or the next line in the main command procedure)
   and assigns it to a symbol.

   Format

     INQUIRE  symbol-name [prompt-string]
 

2  Parameters
 

symbol-name

   Specifies a symbol consisting of 1 to 255 alphanumeric
   characters.
 

prompt-string

   Specifies the prompt to be displayed at the terminal when the
   INQUIRE command is executed. String values are automatically
   converted to uppercase. Also, any leading and trailing spaces and
   tabs are removed, and multiple spaces and tabs between characters
   are compressed to a single space.

   Enclose the prompt in quotation marks (" ")  if it contains
   lowercase characters, punctuation, multiple blanks or tabs, or
   an at sign (@). To denote an actual quotation mark in a prompt-
   string, enclose the entire string in quotation marks and use
   quotation marks (" ")  within the string.

   When the system displays the prompt string at the terminal,
   it generally places a colon (:)  and a space at the end of the
   string. (See the /PUNCTUATION qualifier.)

   If you do not specify a prompt string, the command interpreter
   uses the symbol name to prompt for a value.
 

2  Qualifiers
 

/GLOBAL

   Specifies that the symbol be placed in the global symbol table.
   If you do not specify the /GLOBAL qualifier, the symbol is placed
   in the local symbol table.
 

/LOCAL

      /LOCAL (default)

   Specifies that the symbol be placed in the local symbol table for
   the current command procedure.
 

/PUNCTUATION

      /PUNCTUATION (default)
      /NOPUNCTUATION

   Inserts a colon and a space after the prompt when it is displayed
   on the terminal. To suppress the colon and space, specify the
   /NOPUNCTUATION qualifier.
 

2  Examples

   1.$ INQUIRE CHECK "Enter Y[ES] to continue"
     $ IF .NOT. CHECK THEN EXIT

     The INQUIRE command displays the following prompting message at
     the terminal:

       Enter Y[ES] to continue:

     The INQUIRE command prompts for a value, which is assigned
     to the symbol CHECK. The IF command tests the value assigned
     to the symbol CHECK. If the value assigned to CHECK is true
     (that is, an odd numeric value, a character string that begins
     with a T, t, Y, or y, or an odd numeric character string), the
     procedure continues executing.

     If the value assigned to CHECK is false (that is, an even
     numeric value, a character string that begins with any letter
     except T, t, Y, or y, or an even numeric character string), the
     procedure exits.

   2.$ INQUIRE COUNT
     $ IF COUNT .GT. 10 THEN GOTO SKIP
       .
       .
       .
     $ SKIP:

     The INQUIRE command prompts for a count with the following
     message:

       COUNT:

     Then the command procedure uses the value of the symbol COUNT
     to determine whether to execute the next sequence of commands
     or to transfer control to the line labeled SKIP.

   3.$ IF P1 .EQS. "" THEN INQUIRE P1 "FILE NAME"
     $ FORTRAN 'P1'

     The IF command checks whether a parameter was passed to the
     command procedure by checking if the symbol P1 is null; if
     it is, it means that no parameter was specified, and the
     INQUIRE command is issued to prompt for the parameter. If P1
     was specified, the INQUIRE command is not executed, and the
     FORTRAN command compiles the name of the file specified as a
     parameter.

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