From:	MERC::"uunet!CRVAX.SRI.COM!RELAY-INFO-VAX"  8-JUL-1992 20:43:45.75
To:	DWING@UH01.Colorado.EDU
CC:	info-vax@sri.com, tillman@swdev.si.com
Subj:	Re: Utility for chronological directory in DCL?

Dan Wing (DWING@UH01.Colorado.EDU) writes:

>You wrote:
>
>>You can get the DIRECTORY command to put out the date and time in the format 
>>you want using the LIB$DT_FORMAT logical names.
>
>I tried a few different combinations.  Could you send some examples?

In order to make use of the LIB$DT* formats, first one must enable LIB$DT* 
support on one's VAX.  To do this, put the following in SYS$SYSTARTUP_V5.COM:

$ @sys$startup:lib$dt_startup

This requires SYSNAM, SYSPRV, and CMEXEC privileges.  Alternatively, one can do 
the following:

$ sysman startup add file lib$dt_startup.com

This creates the logical name table LNM$DT_FORMAT_TABLE and defines logical 
names in that table of the form LIB$DATE_FORMAT_xxx and LIB$TIME_FORMAT_xxx.  
These logical names are somewhat equivalent to FAO control strings, although 
they are different.  In any event, this allows each person on the VAX to define 
the logical name LIB$DT_FORMAT as a search list of one LIB$DATE_FORMAT_xxx and 
one LIB$TIME_FORMAT_xxx name.  The default is:

$ sho log lib$dt_format
   "LIB$DT_FORMAT" = "LIB$DATE_FORMAT_001" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)
        = "LIB$TIME_FORMAT_001"
$ sho log/table=lnm$dt_format_table lib$date_format_001
   "LIB$DATE_FORMAT_001" = "!DB-!MAAU-!Y4" (LNM$DT_FORMAT_TABLE)
$ sho log/table=lnm$dt_format_table lib$time_format_001
   "LIB$TIME_FORMAT_001" = "!H04:!M0:!S0.!C2" (LNM$DT_FORMAT_TABLE)

Notice that the date format says "!DB-!MAAU-!Y4"  The "!DB" means "day, blank 
filled".  The "!MAAU" means "month, ASCII, abbreviated, upper case", and the 
"!Y4" means "year, four digits".  Each field is separated by a hyphen.  The time 
format is similar.  The "!H04" means "hours, zero filled, 24 hour format", the 
"!M0" means "minutes, zero filled", the "!S0" means "seconds, zero filled", and 
the "!C2" means "hundredths, two digits".  The hours, minutes, and seconds are 
separated by colons, and the fraction is separated from the seconds by a period. 
Putting this all together gives the standard DIRECTORY command's date and time 
display; i.e.

$ dir/dat login.com

Directory MY_DISK:[MYDIR]

LOGIN.COM;63          8-JUL-1992 08:27:47.38

Total of 1 file.

If you want to change the display and use, say, comparison date format (to make 
sorting easy), try defining LIB$DT_FORMAT as follows:

$ define lib$dt_format lib$date_format_037, lib$time_format_001

Now when you do your DIRECTORY command, you see:

$ dir/dat login.com

Directory MY_DISK:[MYDIR]

LOGIN.COM;63         1992-07-08 08:27:47.38

Total of 1 file.

Now you can do the following:

$ dir/out=dirlist/nohead/notrail/dat/wid=(disp=80,fil=56) .dat
$ sort/key=(pos=59,siz=22) dirlist.lis dirlist.lis

and have a directory listing in chronological order by creation date.

You can also change the language of the display.  If, for example, you like 
French, you can:

$ define sys$language french
$ define lib$dt_format lib$date_format_002,lib$time_format_001

and you get:


$ dir/dat login.com

Directory MY_DISK:[MYDIR]

LOGIN.COM;63          8 juillet 1992 08:27:47.38

Total of 1 file.

Any questions?

-----------------------------+--------------------------------
 Brian Tillman               | Internet: tillman@swdev.si.com
 Smiths Industries, Inc.     |
 4141 Eastern Ave. MS129     | Hey, I said this stuff myself.
 Grand Rapids, MI 49518-8727 | My company has no part in it.
-----------------------------+--------------------------------