Gary Nolan wrote, in part:

> WHILE !LEN > !CNT
>     INPUT IN_LINE
>     SETVAR OUT_LINE "!IN_LINE"
>     ECHO !OUT_LINE>*OUTJCL
>     SETVAR CNT CNT+1
> ENDWHILE

This is *exactly* the type of thing Jeff Vance has been working on
with the new quote() function, though (please correct me if I'm wrong,
Jeff) things still are not perfect.

The problem is that we cannot write out with ECHO exactly what we read
with INPUT. In the code above, we really need the equivalent of a SHOWVAR
for OUT_LINE. Once we tell the CI to *evaluate* the variable, we're toast.

Thus, INPUT can read the following with no problem:

        !showtime

However, when we *evaluate* the variable that holds this (as in the SETVAR
statement above), the CI doesn't stop with

        "the value of IN_LINE is !showtime"

Rather, it tries to evaluate the "variable" showtime!

If there was some way to say "evaluate one level deep and stop," then
we'd be home free. Even :SHOWVAR with the ability to suppress the leading
"varname =" would help.

All this to say, INPUT has no exact complement.

--Glenn Cole
  Software al dente, Inc.
  [log in to unmask]

P.S. *PLEASE* use names instead of numbers for finfo().
     Instead of finfo("filename",19), *PLEASE* use finfo("filename","eof").
     (See :HELP FINFO for a list of equivalences.)