$ PRINT/COPIES=3 MEMO1.TXT,MEMO2.TXT

The first command prints three copies of each file. The second command prints two copies of the first file, but only one copy of the second. A parameter qualifier affects only the parameter it follows. In the following example, MEMO1.TXT is sent to the queue LASER and MEMO2.TXT is sent to queue FAST_PRINT:

$ PRINT MEMO1.TXT/QUEUE=LASER,MEMO2.TXT/QUEUE=FAST_PRINT 

A comment is an optional, user-specified comment about the command. It is commonly used in command procedures to document the command.

Error Messages

Generally, error messages are of the format:

% FACILIT-L-IDENT, TEXT

A percent sign (%) indicates the first error message for a given command. All subsequent errors for that command are preceded with a hyphen (‑). The facility indicates the source of the error. The source may be the DCL command line interpreter, one of the various VMS utilities, or a program image. The severity level indicator (L) will have one of the following values: S (successful completion), I (information), W (warning), E (error), or F (fatal or severe error). The ident is an abbreviation of the error message text. It can be referenced in the VAX/VMS System Messages manual. The text provides an explanation of the error message.

Command Line Editing

DCL stores the last 20 command lines entered. You can display a list of them with:

$ RECALL /ALL

The resulting display might look like:

1  DIR

2  COPY VAX1::$1$DUA5:[BYNON]LOGIN.COM LOGIN.COM;1

3  EDIT LOGIN.COM

$

To recall a specific command from the recall buffer, use the DCL RECALL command with a command line number as a parameter. For example:

$ RECALL 2

$ COPY VAX1::$1$6DUA5:[BYNON]LOGIN.COM LOGIN.COM;1