CLP Coding Rules

Coding rules for CLP Commands

These rules apply both on Command Line and inside a CLP program.

Blank space separates parts of a command
- Example WRKOUTQ QFISCAL* to get at list of all OUTQ whose name starts with QFISCAL
Parentheses go around keywords and values
- Example SAVLIB LIB(XFILES) DEV(TAP01)
Slash connects parts of a qualified name or path name
- Example WRKOBJ XFILES/UFOS
Single apostrophe indicates beginning and end of a quoted character string (a constant)
- Example SNDMSG MSG('Intruder Alert') TOUSR(QBOSS)
*N is a place holder (take the defaults) indicating the absense of a positional parameter
- Example RUNQRY *N LOG
Predefined values begin with an asterisk and indicate IBM-defined values which are reserved by OS/400 and may be used in programs to have those set functions
- Example SAVLIB LIB(*ALLUSR) DEV(*SAVF)
Generic name contains one or more characters that are those that start some object(s) then end in asterisk to signify wild card list of all that share that prefix
- Example DSPF*

Variable name has ampersand & followed by up to 10 characters (11 total), used to store and update data and to receive parameters, as temporary storage while program is running
Colon : ends a command label
- Example LABEL:
/* at beginning and */ at end of comment lines
plus sign at end of line(s) that need to go to another line, when the next character is non-blank (F4 gets it perfect)
minus sign at end of line(s) that need to go to another line, when the next character period (F4 gets it perfect)