I think the fact that 27 is the decimal value of the escape character is merely a coincidence in this case, and that the failure is not really happening in the IF command.  Remember, in a WHILE loop, the commands are not displayed on each iteration of the loop.  An end of file certainly does not seem a likely result of this operation, and the CI's parser certainly does not assume the characters "27" represent the beginning of an escape sequence.

If you could post the entire WHILE loop, I think we could tell you what's really happening.

-----Original Message-----
From: James B. Byrne [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 9:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Interesting problem with while loop in job


In a job file, inside a WHILE loop, the following command

!  IF HL_NOW = 2230 AND HPDATE > 26 THEN

works as expected.  However change the 26 to a 27 (decimal for
escape) and stream the job one immediately achieves the following
spectacular exit.

!  IF HL_NOW = 2230 AND HPDATE > 27 THEN
End of file encountered. (CIERR 9000)
I/O read error in WHILE commands interactively. (CIERR 10304)
Error executing commands in WHILE loop. (CIERR 10310)
REMAINDER OF JOB FLUSHED.
CPU sec. = 5.  elapsed min. = 1.  TUE, JUL  8, 2003, 11:36 AM.


This seems a rather draconian assumption on the part of the parser,
that every 27 is the beginning of an escaped command sequence.
Or am I missing something in the documentation?

Regards,
Jim

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James B. Byrne                Harte & Lyne Limited
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