SYNONYM

CMS Commands

synonym.helpcmd.txt
SYNONYM                                                   CMS Transient command

Use the SYNONYM command to invoke a table of synonyms to be used with, or in
place of, CMS and user-written command names.  You create the table yourself
using the editor.  The form for specifying the entries for the table is
described under "The User Synonym Table."

The names you define can be used either instead of or in conjunction with the
standard CMS command truncations.  However, no matter what truncations,
synonyms, or truncations of the synonyms are in effect, the full real name of
the command is always accepted.  The format of the SYNONYM command is:
+----------+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SYNonym  | [fn [SYNONYM [A1|fm *]]] [([STD|NOSTD] [CLEAR][)]]               |
+----------+------------------------------------------------------------------+
where:

fn       is the filename of the file containing your synonyms table.

fm       is the filemode of the file containing your synonyms; if omitted, your
         A-disk and its extensions are searched.  If you specify fm, you must
         enter the keyword, SYNONYM.  If you specify fm as an asterisk (*), all
         disks are searched for the specified SYNONYM file.

Options:

STD | NOSTD
         specifies that standard CMS abbreviations are accepted.  This is the
         default.  NOSTD specfies that standard CMS abbreviations are not to be
         accepted.  (The full CMS command and the synonyms you defined can
         still be used.)

CLEAR    removes any synonym table set by a previously entered SYNONYM command.


Usage notes:

1.  If you enter the SYNONYM command with no operands, the system synonym table
    and the user synonym table (if one exists) are listed.

2.  The SET ABBREV ON or OFF command, in conjunction with the SYNONYM command,
    determines which standard and user-defined forms of a particular CMS
    command are acceptable.

3.  EXEC procedures having a synonym defined for them can be invoked by its
    synonym if implied EXEC (IMPEX) function is on.  However, within an EXEC
    procedure, only the EXEC filename can be used.  A synonym is not recognized
    within an EXEC since the synonym tables are not searched during EXEC
    processing.

4.  When ABBREV is OFF, the synonyms defined for command names (EXECs and
    MODULEs) are valid, but abbreviations are ignored.

The User Synonym Table

You create the synonym table using the CMS editor.  The table must be a file
with the filetype SYNONYM.  The file consists of 80-byte fixed-length records
in free-form format with columns 73-80 ignored. The format for each record is:
   systemcommand usersynonym count

where:

systemcommand
         is the name of the CMS command or MODULE or EXEC file for which you
         are creating a synonym.

usersynonym
         is the synonym you are assigning to the command name.  When you create
         the synonym, you must follow the same syntax rules as for commands;
         that is, you must use the character set used to create commands, the
         synonym may be no longer than eight characters, and so on.

count    is the minimum number of characters that must be entered for the
         synonym to be accepted by CMS.  If omitted, the entire synonym must be
         entered (see the following example).

A table of command synonyms is built from the contents of this file.  You may
have several synonym files but only one may be active at a time.  For example,
if the synonym file named MYSYN contains:
   MOVEFILE  MVIT
then, after you have issued the command:
   synonym mysyn
the synonym MVIT can be entered as a command name to execute the MOVEFILE
command.  It cannot be truncated since no count is specified.  If MYSYN SYNONYM
contains:
   ACCESS GETDISK 3
then, the synonyms GET, GETD, GETDI, GETDIS, or GETDISK can be entered as the
command name instead of ACCESS.

If you have an EXEC file named TDISK, you might have a synonym entry:
   TDISK TDISK 2
so that you can invoke the EXEC procedure by specifying the truncation TD.

The Relationship between the SET ABBREV and SYNONYM Commands:

The default values of the SET and SYNONYM commands are such that the system
synonym abbreviation table is available unless otherwise specified.

The system synonym abbreviation table for the FILEDEF command states that FI is
the minimum truncation.  Therefore, the acceptable abbreviations for FILEDEF
are: FI, FIL, FILE, FILED, FILEDE, and FILEDEF.  The system synonym
abbreviation table is available whenever both SET ABBREV ON and SYNONYM (STD)
are in effect.

If you have a synonym table with the file identification USERTAB SYNONYM A,
that has the entry:
   FILEDEF USENAME 3
then, USENAME is a synonym for FILEDEF, and acceptable truncations of USENAME
are: USE, USEN, USENA, USENAM, and USENAME.  The user synonym abbreviation
table is available whenever both SET ABBREV ON and SYNONYM USERTAB are
specified.

No matter what synonyms and truncations are defined, the full real name of the
command is always in effect.

The forms of the system command and user synonyms available for the various
combinations of the SET ABBREV and SYNONYM commands are:

+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
|                         | Acceptable |                                      |
| Options                 |  Command   | Comments                             |
|                         |  Forms     |                                      |
+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
| SET ABBREV ON           | FI         | The ABBREV ON option of the SET      |
| SYN USERTAB (STD        | FIL        | command and the STD option of the    |
|                         | .          | SYNONYM command make the system      |
|                         | .          | table available. The user synonym,   |
|                         | .          | USENAME, is available because the    |
|                         | FILEDEF    | synonym table (USERTAB) is specified |
|                         | USE        | on the SYNONYM command. The          |
|                         | USEN       | truncations for USENAME are          |
|                         | .          | available because SET ABBREV ON was  |
|                         | .          | specified with the USERTAB also      |
|                         | .          | available.                           |
|                         | USENAME    |                                      |
+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
| SET ABBREV OFF          | FILEDEF    | The user-defined synonym, USENAME,   |
| SYN USERTAB (STD        | USENAME    | is permitted because the user        |
|                         |            | synonym table (USERTAB) is specified |
|                         |            | on the SYNONYM command.  No system   |
|                         |            | or user truncations are permitted.   |
+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
| SET ABBREV ON           | FILEDEF    | The system synonym table is          |
| SYN USERTAB (NOSTD      | USE        | unavailable because the NOSTD option |
|                         | USEN       | is specified on the SYNONYM command. |
|                         | .          | The user synonym, USENAME, is        |
|                         | .          | available because the user synonym   |
|                         | .          | table (USERTAB) is specified on the  |
|                         | USENAME    | SYNONYM command and the truncations  |
|                         |            | of USENAME are permitted because SET |
|                         |            | ABBREV ON is specified with USERTAB  |
|                         |            | also available.                      |
+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
| SET ABBREV OFF          | FILEDEF    | The system synonym table is made     |
| SYN USERTAB (NOSTD      | USENAME    | unavailable either by the SET ABBREV |
|                         |            | OFF command or by the SYN (NOSTD     |
|                         |            | command.  The synonym, USENAME, is   |
|                         |            | permitted because the user-defined   |
|                         |            | synonym table (USERTAB) is specified |
|                         |            | on the SYNONYM command. The          |
|                         |            | truncations for USENAME are not      |
|                         |            | permitted because the SET ABBREV OFF |
|                         |            | option is in effect.                 |
+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
| SET ABBREV ON           | FI         | The user-defined table is now        |
| SYN (CLEAR STD          | FIL        | unavailable.  The system synonym     |
|                         | .          | table is available because both the  |
|                         | .          | ABBREV ON option of the SET command  |
|                         | .          | and the STD option of the SYNONYM    |
|                         | FILEDEF    | command are specified.               |
+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
| SET ABBREV OFF          | FILEDEF    | Because CLEAR is specified on the    |
| SYN (CLEAR STD          |            | SYNONYM command, the synonym and its |
|                         |            | truncations are no longer available. |
| SET ABBREV ON           |            | Either the SET ABBREV OFF command or |
| SYN (CLEAR NOSTD        |            | the SYNONYM  (NOSTD command make the |
|                         |            | system synonym table unavailable.    |
| SET ABBREV OFF          |            |                                      |
| SYN (CLEAR NOSTD        |            |                                      |
+-------------------------+------------+--------------------------------------+

This table does not apply to EXECs.

Responses:

When you enter the SYNONYM command with no operands, the synonym table(s)
currently in effect are displayed.
   SYSTEM     USER       SHORTEST
   COMMAND    SYNONYM    FORM (IF ANY)
      .          .         .
      .          .         .
      .          .         .
This response is the same as the response to the command QUERY SYNONYM ALL.

DMSSYN711I    NO SYSTEM SYNONYMS IN EFFECT
   This response is displayed when you issue the SYNONYM command with no
   operands after the command SYNONYM (NOSTD) has been issued.

DMSSYN712I    NO SYNONYMS (DMSINA NOT IN NUCLEUS)
   The system routine which handles SYNONYM command processing is not in the
   system.