RE: Unix question: how to display SID and path in prompt

• John Kanagaraj <john.kanagaraj_at_hds.com>

> Mladen,
>
> Are you confusing this on account of your new-found attraction to the 'go'
> command in MS SQL Server (formerly Sybase and T-SQL)? :-)
>
> I though that 'SET DEFAULT [Dir-name]' was the equivalent of 'cd' in
> VMS...
They have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, mainly becuase VMS doesn't really have the same notion of "working directory" that *NIX does.

set def can accept a partial path (e.g., 'dka0:', '[sys.foobar]', or 'dka0:[sys.foobar].exe'). It takes whatever you give it as a default for commands which require a filename and uses them as the default portion of the name if one is not given (e.g., "del myfile" would take the device, dir & extension from the default).

You can be working on dka100: and perform a set def dka0: without effecting the O/S treatment of dka0: -- the items given to set def needn't even exist since they are not used until the next time a path is given without that portion (e.g., you can put in a bogus device w/ valid directory and not know it until you forget to type the device).

cd actually changes the O/S' view of your process and the destination path you give it. Performing a cd across file systems, for example, will leave the new one unable to umount; on VMS it wouldn't effect anything. You also cannot cd to a nonexistant directory.

The two commands feel the same syntatically because you normally use relative paths after performing them; but the O/S' treatments are entirely different.

enjoi.

--
Steven Lembark                               2930 W. Palmer
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