Script syntax

A script is a program made up of function definitions, variable definitions, and executable program statements. The terminal emulator scripting language is similar to Java or C. The scripting language has these general conventions:

• Keywords, variables and function names are case-insensitive
• All statements are terminated with a semi-colon
• Multiple statements can appear on a single line
• Function definitions must appear ahead of the data declarations and program statements
• Declarations can appear anywhere before they are referenced

The general layout is:

Return-type FUNCTION function-name (optional parameters) {optional local variables; statements...}

Reserved words

Reserved words are character strings that have special meanings. They cannot be used except for their intended meaning. The reserved words are of three types:

Language keywords

Language keywords are used as commands within a script. They are interpreted to provide some action or considered as part of a statement. You can use these keywords only for their predefined purpose:

AND	; (semicolon)	If
OR	Break	Int
EQ	Continue	Real
NE	Else	Return
GE	Exit	String
GT	For	While
LE	Function	LT

Declarations and function names

Each script program begins with global data declarations, stating the global variables and user-defined functions you will be using. Declarations build an association between a function and its attributes or values. You do not need to declare any of the built-in functions, because the interpreter already recognizes these function names.

Identifiers

Identifiers are the names that you create to denote constants, variables, and functions. Identifiers have the following characteristics:

• an identifier can be any length
• the first character must be alphabetic (a-z, A-Z), numeric (0-9), or an underscore (_)
• the remaining characters can be alphabetic (a-z, A-Z), numeric (0-9), or underscores (_)
• each identifier must be unique. Identifiers cannot be one of the reserved words.

Punctuation

The following punctuation rules apply to a section

• Statements end with a semi-colon – ;
• Parameter lists are enclosed in parenthesis – ()
• Parameters are separated by commas – ,
• Statement blocks are enclosed in braces – {}

Embedded quoted strings

String literals are enclosed in double quotes or single quotes. You can insert double quotes as part of a string literal by preceding the quote with the escape character /". Alternatively, you can begin and end the string literal with the single quote character '. To imbed a single quote use the /' escape sequence or enclose the string literal within double quotes. Example:

// Both statements yield embedded quotes quotedStr1 = 
"The job /"TSOA/" is running"; quotedStr2 = 'The job "TSOA" is running';

White space

The script language ignores white space (spaces, tabs, new-lines) except within a quoted string.

Comments

Comments are supported as a way to add explanatory text to your script program or to exclude certain parts of the code.

• comments can be single line or multi-line comment blocks
• the script interpreter ignores comments
• comment blocks are enclosed within the /* */ pairs. Comment blocks can span multiple lines.
• comments can also start with the // character string. The interpreter ignores everything to the right of the double slash up to the end of the line (new-line character).
• comments can start anywhere in the script

Example:

// This is a single line comment a = 3; 
// this is a comment /* This section defines multiple line 
comment block */ a = 3; /* imbedded comment block */ b=4;