#command | #translate 
 Specify a user-defined command or translation directive

 Syntax

     #command   <matchPattern> => <resultPattern>
     #translate   <matchPattern> => <resultPattern>

 Arguments

     <matchPattern> is the pattern the input text should match.

     <resultPattern> is the text produced if a portion of input text
     matches the <matchPattern>.

     The => symbol between <matchPattern> and <resultPattern> is, along with
     #command or #translate, a literal part of the syntax that must be
     specified in a #command or #translate directive.  The symbol consists of
     an equal sign followed by a greater than symbol with no intervening
     spaces.  Do not confuse the symbol with the >= or the <= comparison
     operators in the Clipper language.

 Description

     #command and #translate are translation directives that define commands
     and pseudofunctions.  Each directive specifies a translation rule.  The
     rule consists of two portions:  a match pattern and a result pattern.
     The match pattern matches a command specified in the program (.prg) file
     and saves portions of the command text (usually command arguments) for
     the result pattern to use.  The result pattern then defines what will be
     written to the result text and how it will be written using the saved
     portions of the matching input text.

     #command and #translate are similar, but differ in the circumstance
     under which their match patterns match input text.  A #command directive
     matches only if the input text is a complete statement, while #translate
     matches input text that is not a complete statement.  #command defines a
     complete command and #translate defines clauses and pseudofunctions that
     may not form a complete statement.  In general, use #command for most
     definitions and #translate for special cases.

     #command and #translate are similar to but more powerful than the
     #define directive.  #define, generally, defines identifiers that control
     conditional compilation and manifest constants for commonly used
     constant values such as INKEY() codes.  Refer to any of the header files
     in the \CLIP53\INCLUDE directory for examples of manifest constants
     defined using #define.

     #command and #translate directives have the same scope as the #define
     directive.  The definition is valid only for the current program (.prg)
     file unless defined in Std.ch or the header specified with the /U option
     on the compiler command line.  If defined elsewhere, the definition is
     valid from the line where it is specified to the end of the program
     file.  Unlike #define, a #translate or #command definition cannot be
     explicitly undefined.  The #undef directive has no effect on a #command
     or #translate definition.

     As the preprocessor encounters each source line preprocessor, it scans
     for definitions in the following order of precedence: #define,
     #translate, and #command.  When there is a match, the substitution is
     made to the result text and the entire line is reprocessed until there
     are no matches for any of the three types of definitions.  #command and
     #translate rules are processed in stack-order (i.e., last in-first out,
     with the most recently specified rule processed first).

     In general, a command definition provides a way to specify an English
     language statement that is, in fact, a complicated expression or
     function call, thereby improving the readability of source code.  You
     can use a command in place of an expression or function call to impose
     order of keywords, required arguments, combinations of arguments that
     must be specified together, and mutually exclusive arguments at compile
     time rather than at runtime.  This can be important since procedures and
     user-defined functions can now be called with any number of arguments,
     forcing any argument checking to occur at runtime.  With command
     definitions, the preprocessor handles some of this.

     All commands in Clipper are defined using the #command directive and
     supplied in the standard header file, Std.ch, located in the
     \CLIP53\INCLUDE directory.  The syntax rules of #command and #translate
     facilitate the processing of all Clipper and dBASE-style commands
     into expressions and function calls.  This provides Clipper
     compatibility, as well as avenues of compatibility with other dialects.

     When defining a command, there are several prerequisites to properly
     specifying the command definition.  Many preprocessor commands require
     more than one #command directive because mutually exclusive clauses
     contain a keyword or argument.  For example, the @...GET command has
     mutually exclusive VALID and RANGE clauses and is defined with a
     different #command rule to implement each clause.

     This also occurs when a result pattern contains different expressions,
     functions, or parameter structures for different clauses specified for
     the same command (e.g., the @...SAY command).  In Std.ch, there is a
     #command rule for @...SAY specified with the PICTURE clause and another
     for @...SAY specified without the PICTURE clause.  Each formulation of
     the command is translated into a different expression.  Because
     directives are processed in stack order, when defining more than one
     rule for a command, place the most general case first, followed by the
     more specific ones.  This ensures that the proper rule will match the
     command specified in the program (.prg) file.

     For more information and a general discussion of commands, refer to the
     "Basic Concepts" chapter in the Programming and Utilities Guide.

 Match Pattern

     The <matchPattern> portion of a translation directive is the pattern the
     input text must match.  A match pattern is made from one or more of the
     following components, which the preprocessor tries to match against
     input text in a specific way:

     .  Literal values are actual characters that appear in the match
        pattern.  These characters must appear in the input text, exactly as
        specified to activate the translation directive.

     .  Words are keywords and valid identifiers that are compared
        according to the dBASE convention (case-insensitive, first four
        letters mandatory, etc.).  The match pattern must start with a Word.

        #xcommand and #xtranslate can recognize keywords of more than four
        significant letters.

     .  Match markers are label and optional symbols delimited by
        angle brackets (<>) that provide a substitute (idMarker) to be used
        in the <resultPattern> and identify the clause for which it is a
        substitute.  Marker names are identifiers and must, therefore, follow
        the Clipper identifier naming conventions.  In short, the name
        must start with an alphabetic or underscore character, which may be
        followed by alphanumeric or underscore characters.

        This table describes all match marker forms:

        Match Markers
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        Match Marker             Name
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        <idMarker>               Regular match marker
        <idMarker,...>           List match marker
        <idMarker:word list>     Restricted match marker
        <*idMarker*>             Wild match marker
        <(idMarker)>             Extended Expression match marker
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------

        -  Regular match marker: Matches the next legal expression in the
           input text.  The regular match marker, a simple label, is the most
           general and, therefore, the most likely match marker to use for a
           command argument.  Because of its generality, it is used with the
           regular result marker, all of the stringify result markers, and
           the blockify result marker.

        -  List match marker: Matches a comma-separated list of legal
           expressions.  If no input text matches the match marker, the
           specified marker name contains nothing.  You must take care in
           making list specifications because extra commas will cause
           unpredictable and unexpected results.

           The list match marker defines command clauses that have lists as
           arguments.  Typically these are FIELDS clauses or expression lists
           used by database commands.  When there is a match for a list match
           marker, the list is usually written to the result text using either the
           normal or smart stringify result marker.  Often, lists are written
           as literal arrays by enclosing the result marker in curly ({ })
           braces.

        -  Restricted match marker: Matches input text to one of the
           words in a comma-separated list.  If the input text does not match
           at least one of the words, the match fails and the marker name
           contains nothing.

           A restricted match marker is generally used with the logify result
           marker to write a logical value into the result text.  If there is
           a match for the restricted match marker, the corresponding logify
           result marker writes true (.T.) to the result text; otherwise, it
           writes false (.F.).  This is particularly useful when defining
           optional clauses that consist of a command keyword with no
           accompanying argument.  Std.ch implements the REST clause of
           database commands using this form.

        -  Wild match marker: Matches any input text from the current
           position to the end of a statement.  Wild match markers generally
           match input that may not be a legal expression, such as #command
           NOTE <*x*> in Std.ch, gather the input text to the end of the
           statement, and write it to the result text using one of the
           stringify result markers.

        -  Extended expression match marker: Matches a regular or
           extended expression, including a file name or path specification.
           It is used with the smart stringify result marker to ensure that
           extended expressions will not get stringified, while normal,
           unquoted string file specifications will.

     .  Optional match clauses are portions of the match pattern
        enclosed in square brackets ([ ]).  They specify a portion of the
        match pattern that may be absent from the input text.  An optional
        clause may contain any of the components allowed within a
        <matchPattern>, including other optional clauses.

        Optional match clauses may appear anywhere and in any order in the
        match pattern and still match input text.  Each match clause may
        appear only once in the input text.  There are two types of optional
        match clauses: one is a keyword followed by match marker, and the
        other is a keyword by itself.  These two types of optional match
        clauses can match all of the traditional command clauses typical of
        the Clipper command set.

        Optional match clauses are defined with a regular or list match
        marker to match input text if the clause consists of an argument or a
        keyword followed by an argument (see the INDEX clause of the USE
        command in Std.ch).  If the optional match clause consists of a
        keyword by itself, it is matched with a restricted match marker (see
        the EXCLUSIVE or SHARED clause of the USE command in Std.ch).

        In any match pattern, you may not specify adjacent optional match
        clauses consisting solely of match markers, without generating a
        compiler error.  You may repeat an optional clause any number of
        times in the input text, as long as it is not adjacent to any other
        optional clause.  To write a repeated match clause to the result
        text, use repeating result clauses in the <resultPattern> definition.

 Result Pattern

     The <resultPattern> portion of a translation directive is the text the
     preprocessor will produce if a piece of input text matches the
     <matchPattern>.  <resultPattern> is made from one or more of the
     following components:

     .  Literal tokens are actual characters that are written directly
        to the result text.

     .  Words are Clipper keywords and identifiers that are written
        directly to the result text.

     .  Result markers:  refer directly to a match marker name.  Input
        text matched by the match marker is written to the result text via
        the result marker.

        This table lists the Result marker forms:

        Result Markers
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        Result Marker     Name
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        <idMarker>        Regular result marker
        #<idMarker>       Dumb stringify result marker
        <"idMarker">      Normal stringify result marker
        <(idMarker)>      Smart stringify result marker
        <{idMarker}>      Blockify result marker
        <.idMarker.>      Logify result marker
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------

        -  Regular result marker:  Writes the matched input text to the
           result text, or nothing if no input text is matched.  Use this,
           the most general result marker, unless you have special
           requirements.  You can use it with any of the match markers, but
           it almost always is used with the regular match marker.

        -  Dumb stringify result marker:  Stringifies the matched input
           text and writes it to the result text.  If no input text is
           matched, it writes a null string ("").  If the matched input text
           is a list matched by a list match marker, this result marker
           stringifies the entire list and writes it to the result text.

           This result marker writes output to result text where a string is
           always required.  This is generally the case for commands where a
           command or clause argument is specified as a literal value but the
           result text must always be written as a string even if the
           argument is not specified.

        -  Normal stringify result marker:  Stringifies the matched input
           text and writes it to the result text.  If no input text is
           matched, it writes nothing to the result text.  If the matched
           input text is a list matched by a list match marker, this result
           marker stringifies each element in the list and writes it to the
           result text.

           The normal stringify result marker is most often used with the
           blockify result marker to compile an expression while saving a
           text image of the expression (See the SET FILTER condition and the
           INDEX key expression in Std.ch).

        -  Smart stringify result marker:  Stringifies matched input text
           only if source text is enclosed in parentheses.  If no input text
           matched, it writes nothing to the result text.  If the matched
           input text is a list matched by a list match marker, this result
           marker stringifies each element in the list (using the same
           stringify rule) and writes it to the result text.

           The smart stringify result marker is designed specifically to
           support extended expressions for commands other than SETs with
           <xlToggle> arguments.  Extended expressions are command syntax
           elements that can be specified as literal text or as an expression
           if enclosed in parentheses.  The <xcDatabase> argument of the USE
           command is a typical example.  For instance, if the matched input
           for the <xcDatabase> argument is the word Customer, it is written
           to the result text as the string "Customer," but the expression
           (cPath + cDatafile) would be written to the result text unchanged
           (i.e., without quotes).

        -  Blockify result marker: Writes matched input text as a code
           block without any arguments to the result text.  For example, the
           input text x + 3 would be written to the result text as {|| x +
           3}.  If no input text is matched, it writes nothing to the result
           text.  If the matched input text is a list matched by a list match
           marker, this result marker blockifies each element in the list.

           The blockify result marker used with the regular and list match
           markers matches various kinds of expressions and writes them as
           code blocks to the result text.  Remember that a code block is a
           piece of compiled code to execute sometime later.  This is
           important when defining commands that evaluate expressions more
           than once per invocation.  When defining a command, you can use
           code blocks to pass an expression to a function and procedure as
           data rather than as the result of an evaluation.  This allows the
           target routine to evaluate the expression whenever necessary.

           In Std.ch, the blockify result marker defines database commands
           where an expression is evaluated for each record.  Commonly, these
           are field or expression lists, FOR and WHILE conditions, or key
           expressions for commands that perform actions based on key values.

        -  Logify result marker: Writes true (.T.) to the result text if
           any input text is matched; otherwise, it writes false (.F.) to the
           result text.  This result marker does not write the input text
           itself to the result text.

           The logify result marker is generally used with the restricted match
           marker to write true (.T.) to the result text if an optional
           clause is specified with no argument; otherwise, it writes false
           (.F.).  In Std.ch, this formulation defines the EXCLUSIVE and
           SHARED clauses of the USE command.

     .  Repeating result clauses are portions of the <resultPattern>
        enclosed by square brackets ([ ]).  The text within a repeating
        clause is written to the result text as many times as it has input
        text for any or all result markers within the clause.  If there is no
        matching input text, the repeating clause is not written to the
        result text.  Repeating clauses, however, cannot be nested.  If you
        need to nest repeating clauses, you probably need an additional
        #command rule for the current command.

        Repeating clauses are the result pattern part of the #command
        facility that create optional clauses which have arguments.  You can
        match input text with any match marker other than the restricted
        match marker and write to the result text with any of the
        corresponding result markers.  Typical examples of this facility are
        the definitions for the STORE and REPLACE commands in Std.ch.

 Notes

     .  Less than operator: If you specify the less than operator (<)
        in the <resultPattern> expression, you must precede it with the
        escape character (\).

     .  Multistatement lines: You can specify more than one statement
        as a part of the result pattern by separating each statement with a
        semicolon.  If you specify adjacent statements on two separate lines,
        the first statement must be followed by two semicolons.

 Examples

     These examples encompass many of the basic techniques you can use when
     defining commands with the #command and #translate directives.  In
     general, these examples are based on standard commands defined in
     Std.ch.  Note, however, the functions specified in the example result
     patterns are not the actual functions found in Std.ch, but fictitious
     functions specified for illustration only.

     .  This example defines the @...BOX command using regular match
        markers with regular result markers:

        #command  @ <top>, <left>, <bottom>, <right> BOX ;
              <boxstring>;
        =>;
              CmdBox( <top>, <left>, <bottom>, ;
              <right>,<boxstring> )

     .  This example uses a list match marker with a regular result
        marker to define the ? command:

        #command ? [<list,...>] => QOUT(<list>)

     .  This example uses a restricted match marker with a logify
        result marker to implement an optional clause for a command
        definition.  In this example, if the ADDITIVE clause is specified,
        the logify result marker writes true (.T.) to the result text;
        otherwise, it writes false (.F.):

        #command RESTORE FROM <file> [<add: ADDITIVE>];
        =>;
              CmdRestore( <(file)>, <.add.> )

     .  This example uses a list match marker with a smart stringify
        result marker to write to the result text the list of fields
        specified as the argument of a FIELDS clause.  In this example, the
        field list is written as an array with each field name as an element
        of the array:

        #command COPY TO <file> [FIELDS <fields,...>];
        =>;
              CmdCopyAll( <(file)>, { <(fields)> } )

     .  These examples use the wild match marker to define a command
        that writes nothing to the result text.  Do this when attempting to
        compile unmodified code developed in another dialect:

        #command SET ECHO <*text*>    =>
        #command SET TALK <*text*>    =>

     .  These examples use wild match markers with dumb stringify
        result markers to match command arguments specified as literals, then
        write them to the result text as strings in all cases:

        #command SET PATH TO <*path*>  =>  ;
           SET( _SET_PATH, #<path> )
        #command SET COLOR TO <*spec*> =>  SETCOLOR( #<spec> )

     .  These examples use a normal result marker with the blockify
        result marker to both compile an expression and save the text version
        of it for later use:

        #command SET FILTER TO <xpr>;
        =>;
              CmdSetFilter( <{xpr}>, <"xpr"> )

        #command INDEX ON <key> TO <file>;
        =>;
              CmdCreateIndex( <(file)>, <"key">, <{key}> )

     .  This example demonstrates how the smart stringify result
        marker implements a portion of the USE command for those arguments
        that can be specified as extended expressions:

        #command USE <db> [ALIAS <a>];
        =>;
              CmdOpenDbf( <(db)>, <(a)> )

     .  This example illustrates the importance of the blockify result
        marker for defining a database command.  Here, the FOR and WHILE
        conditions matched in the input text are written to the result text
        as code blocks:

        #command COUNT [TO <var>];
              [FOR <for>] [WHILE <while>];
              [NEXT <next>] [RECORD <rec>] [<rest:REST>] [ALL];
        =>;
              <var> := 0,;
              DBEVAL( {|| <var>++}, <{for}>, <{while}>,;
                 <next>, <rec>, <.rest.> )

     .  In this example the USE command again demonstrates the types
        of optional clauses with keywords in the match pattern.  one clause
        is a keyword followed by a command argument, and the second is solely
        a keyword:

        #command USE <db> [<new: NEW>] [ALIAS <a>] ;
              [INDEX <index,...>][<ex: EXCLUSIVE>] ;
              [<sh: SHARED>] [<ro: READONLY>];
        =>;
              CmdOpenDbf(<(db)>, <(a)>, <.new.>,;
                 IF(<.sh.> .OR. <.ex.>, !<.ex.>, NIL),;
                    <.ro.>, {<(index)>})

     .  This example uses the STORE command definition to illustrate
        the relationship between an optional match clause and a repeating
        result clause:

        #command STORE <value> TO <var1> [, <varN> ];
        =>;
              <var1> := [ <varN> := ] <value>

     .  This example uses #translate to define a pseudofunction:

        #translate AllTrim(<cString>) => LTRIM(RTRIM(<cString>))

See Also: #define #xcommand