Purpose: These facilities allow the user to create a tree strucure in the naming of files, and to get about in the tree without having to continually refer to the root name. In particular it is possible to use this convention in the design of background jobs where the only name which needs to be entered is the root name and the job will create the tree.
Minus: If the name "BEGIN_FRED_JONES" is in the default file name buffer and the user enters the command "XX -", then an opreration will be performed on the file "BEGIN_FRED": the minus causes the extension "_JONES" to be discarded by the preprocessor. As a final touch, assume "BEGIN_ FRED_JONES" is in the default file name buffer and the user enters "XX -_ ANNE", then the file operation will be performed on the file "BEGIN_FRED_ ANNE". Similarly if "XX --_BULL" was entered, then the file would be "BEGIN_BULL"
Tilde: Tilde controls access to the filename buffers obtained when `VF' is used. The facilities outlined above, act in conjunction with the contents of the current file name buffer, buffer 1. These functions can be made to act on the other buffers by adding `~'s in front of the command: each `~' added steps back one buffer. In practice this is very useful in constructing command files for automatic processing, but can be clumsy to use interactively. The exception is the use of a single tilde, as in `RD ~', after saving a temporary file (e.g. /RD BLOGS/<some commands>/SV TEMP/RD ~/ the last RD reads the original file BLOGS).
Hat: Hat controls the copy of the `fixed' default. Entering a hat causes a copy of the current file name to be placed in buffer #6, where it renmains until it is overwritten by another ^ line.
Other Facilities: Finally, if the user has the name "JONES" in the default file name buffer and he enters "XX [xxx]", then the operation will be performed on the file "[xxx]JONES"; if "XX MSA:" is entered then the operation will be performed on "MSA:JONES". If the default buffer contains "FGA0:[xxx]JONES" then the volume and directory information will be stripped and input of "XX GG:[yyy]" will cause the operation to be performed on "GG:[yyy]JONES". For example the string /RD [.RAW]FRED/<some_commands>/SV []/ causes the file FRED to be saved in the current directory. Additionally, entering a filename DISK:[AAA]fred sets the default directory to DISK:[AAA]. All subsequent files will prepend this directory specification to the name. A name preceded by `-' removes the default.