PARGET - Obtains the value or values of an application parameter

Description:

This application reports the value or values of a parameter from a named task. It does this by searching the parameter file  of the task. The purpose is to offer an easier-to-use interface for passing values (especially results parameters) between tasks in shell scripts. The values are formatted in lines with as many values as can be accommodated across the screen up to a maximum of 132 characters; values are space separated. However, in scripts the values are likely to be written to a script variable. Thus for example in the C-shell:

set med = `parget median histat`

would redirect the output to shell variable med, and thus a reference to $med would substitute the median value obtained the last time application HISTAT was invoked. If the parameter comprises a vector of values these can be stored in a C-shell array. For instance,

set perval = `parget perval histat`

would assign elements of the shell array perval[1], perval[2], etc. to the last-computed percentile values of HISTAT. For other scripting languages such as Python, the alternative vector format produced by setting parameter VECTOR to TRUE may be more appropriate.

Single elements of an parameter array may also be accessed using the array index in parentheses.

Usage:

parget parname applic

Parameters:

APPLIC = LITERAL (Read)

The name of the application from which the parameter comes.

PARNAME = LITERAL (Read)

The parameter whose value or values are to be reported.

VECTOR = _LOGICAL (Read)

If TRUE, then vector parameters will be displayed as a comma-separated list of values enclosed in square brackets. If FALSE, vector values are printed as a space-separated list with no enclosing brackets. Additionally, if VECTOR is TRUE, string values (whether vector or scalar) are enclosed in single quotes and any embedded quotes are escaped using a backslash. [FALSE]

Examples:

parget mean stats

Report the value of Parameter MEAN for the application STATS.

parget mincoord $\backslash$

This reports the values of Parameter MINCOORD of the current application, in this case STATS.

parget applic=ndftrace parname=flabel(2)

This reports the value of the second element of Parameter FLABEL for the application NDFTRACE.

Notes:

• The parameter file is located in the $ADAM_USER directory, if defined, otherwise in the adam subdirectory of $HOME. If it cannot be located there, the task reports an error.

• The parameter must exist in the selected application parameter file and not be a structure, except one of type ADAM_PARNAME.

• This task is not designed for use with ICL, where passing parameter values is quite straightforward. It does not operate with monolith parameter files.