Reference > Commands

The form of the START command is:

START stage,

The START command indicates the beginning of a stage in a CL script file. It must be the first command in the stage.

Execution of START in Data and Manip stages causes all variables except the special reserved variable names to be zeroed; ivars, cvars and wvars are set to 0, and svars and mvars have all bits set false. All data locations are emptied except buffer 0 ($1-80). In the Data Stage, values of temporary variables may be preserved if the PRESERVE TEMPORARY command is used. In Tables Stages only new variables (not input from IDF file) are zeroed.

START CONTROL must be the first command in the main CL script file.

START DATA will read a new card, or set of cards, from the input data file unless the NOREAD parameter is added or the READ command is used anywhere in the stage. NOREAD means that the data will be entered from the terminal; READ commands are used if you want to control the reading of the input data yourself.

START TABLES reads a new batch of records from the IDF. The number of records read is called a "pass" in the Log file; it depends on the size and number of tables to be incremented. See also run control parameter NOLOOP.

START MANIP does not read any data.

START PRINT does not read any data.

In the Data and Tables Stages, START is executed as the first instruction and is subsequently executed after FINISH, until all data have been read. FINISH is interpreted as an automatic jump to START. It is not possible to jump to START in any other way. In a Manip or Print Stage, START is executed only once.

Examples of START commands:

start control,

start data,

start data (noread),

start tables,

start manip,

start print,