View source for Slash COPY

[[Category:RPG]]
/copy members are a way to include other source members in a RPG program.

They are quite often used to pull in external descriptions, such as [[Procedures]] or [[Data Structures]].

The syntax for a /copy is:
<pre>
/COPY [[<library>/]<source file>,]<member>
</pre>

If the library isn't specified, then the [[library list]] will be searched.

If the source file isn't specified, then the source file the program is being compiled from will be used.

Often [[Slash IF|/IF]], [[Slash DEFINE|/DEFINE]], and [[Slash ENDIF|/ENDIF]] are used in the copied source member to conditionally define source so that source lines are not duplicated.

For example (in the copy member):
<pre>
/IF NOT DEFINED <somevariable>
/DEFINE <somevariable>
// code goes here
/ENDIF
</pre>

Thus, if the member is copied in more than once, the code that is in the member will only be actually included once.

To exclude the entire member when referenced a second time, you can use [[Slash EOF|/EOF]] as follows (in the copy member).
<pre>
/if defined <somenamevalue>
/eof
/endif
/define <samenamevalue>
...code here...
</pre>