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1 KERMIT Kermit - File transfer, management, and terminal connection Written by: Frank da Cruz, Columbia University, with contributions from hundreds of other volunteer programmers all over the world; (Open)VMS help topic by Alan Robiette, Oxford University (UK); Jim Barbour, University of Colorado (USA); Christine M. Gianone and Frank da Cruz, Columbia University (USA). All references to VMS apply to both VMS and OpenVMS. Documentation: C-Kermit 5A is documented in the book "Using C-Kermit" by Frank da Cruz and Christine M. Gianone, Digital Press, Burlington, MA, USA. Digital Press ISBN: 1-55558-108-0; Prentice-Hall ISBN: 0-13-037490-3. Price: US $34.95. In USA, call DECdirect at 1-800-344-4825, refer to order number EY-J896E-DP. Available: January 1993. Format: KERMIT [ cmdfile ] [ option(s) ... ] [ file(s) ... ] 2 COMMANDS C-Kermit has a large vocabulary of commands; for a summary see the "COMMAND_LIST" subtopic. All command can be used either interactively, i.e. typed in response to the "C-Kermit>" prompt, or placed in command files to be executed under the control of Kermit's programming language. The SET and SHOW commands are particularly useful in that they are used to set and display respectively the many parameters governing Kermit's communication and file transfer capabilities. 3 BACKSLASH_NOTATION Within a command, \ is a special character to help you enter special quantities, or ordinary characters that would otherwise be illegal or hard to type. At the end of a line, \ (backslash) makes the next line a continuation of the current line. In all other circumstances the character following the \ identifies what the special item is: % a user-defined simple (scalar) variable & an array reference $ an environment variable v (or V) a built-in variable m (or M) a user-defined "long" variable f (or F) a function d (or D) a decimal (base 10) number o (or O) an octal (base 8) number x (or X) a hexadecimal (base 16) number \ the backslash character itself \b (or \B) the BREAK signal (OUTPUT command only) \l (or \L) a long BREAK signal (OUTPUT command only) A decimal digit (a 1-3 digit decimal number): see below Anything else: following character taken literally Numbers (in decimal, octal or hexadecimal format) turn into the character with that ASCII code, so you can use \7 for a bell, or \13 (or, say, \x0D) for a carriage return. 3 COMMAND_LIST You can use upper or lower case for commands. Also, you can abbreviate commands as long as the abbreviation matches only one possibility. This section gives a summary of C-Kermit's commands. For more information on each, look in the user manual, or online in SYS$HELP:KERMIT.DOC, or type HELP and then the command name in response to the "C-Kermit>" prompt. ; Introduce a full-line or trailing comment (also #). ! Execute a system command or enter system command interpreter (also @). : Introduce a label (GOTO target). ASK Prompt the user, store user's reply in a variable. ASKQ Like ASK, but doesn't echo (useful for passwords). ASSIGN Assign an evaluated string to a variable or macro. BUG Display instructions for reporting bugs. BYE Terminate and log out a remote Kermit server. CD Change working directory (also CWD). CHECK Check for availability of a given feature. CLEAR Clear communication device input buffer. CLOSE Close a log or other local file. COMMENT Introduce a full-line comment. CONNECT Establish a terminal connection to a remote computer. DECLARE Declare an array. DECREMENT Subtract one (or other number) from a variable. DEFINE Define a variable or macro. DELETE Delete a file or files. DIAL Dial a telephone number. DIRECTORY Display a directory listing. DISABLE Disallow access to selected features during server operation. DO Execute a macro. E-PACKET Send an Error packet to the other Kermit. ECHO Display text on the screen. ENABLE Allow access to selected features during server operation. END End a command file or macro. EXIT Exit from the program, closing all open files and devices. FINISH Instruct a remote Kermit server to exit, but not log out. FOR Execute commands repeatedly in a counted loop. GET Get files from a remote Kermit server. GETOK Ask a "yes/no" question (in scripts). GOTO Go to a labeled command in a command file or macro. HANGUP Hang up the phone or network connection. HELP Display a help message for a given command. IF Conditionally execute the following command. INCREMENT Add one (or other number) to a variable. INPUT Match characters from another computer against a given text string. INTRODUCTION Print a brief introduction to C-Kermit. LOG Open a log file - debugging, packet, session, or transaction. MAIL Send a file as electronic mail to a specified address. MSEND Send a list of files (multiple send). MSLEEP Do nothing for given number of milliseconds. OPEN Open a local file for reading or writing. OUTPUT Send text to another computer. PAUSE Do nothing for a given number of seconds. PING Check if an IP host is reachable. PRINT Print a file on a local printer. PUSH Invoke host system interactive command interpreter. PWD Display current working device/directory. QUIT Same as EXIT. READ Read a line from a local file. RECEIVE Passively wait for files to arrive. REDIAL Redial the most recently dialed number. REINPUT Reexamine text previously received from another computer by an INPUT command. REMOTE Issue commands to a remote Kermit server. RENAME Change the name of a file. RETURN Return from a user-defined function. RUN Run a program or system command. SCRIPT Execute a UUCP-style login script. SEND Send files. SERVER Begin server operation. SET Set various parameters. SHOW Display values of SET parameters. SPACE Display current disk space usage. STATISTICS Display statistics about most recent transaction. STOP Stop executing macro or command file and return to the prompt. TAKE Execute commands from a file. TELNET Make a TELNET connection to a TCP/IP host. TRANSLATE Translate a file's character set. TRANSMIT Upload a file with no error checking. TYPE Display a file on the screen. VERSION Display the program version number on the screen. WAIT Wait for the specified modem signals. WHILE Execute commands repeatedly while a condition is true. WHO Display list of logged in users. WRITE Write text to a local file. XIF Extended IF command. 3 SET_Command Here are the parameters you can change with the SET command. Note that some of these parameters require further specification. E.g. there are several RECEIVE parameters, so commands using SET RECEIVE look like "SET RECEIVE PACKET-LENGTH 1000". For parameters in this category, the possible options are listed below them. ATTRIBUTES Turn attribute packet processing on or off. ALL, CHARACTER-SET, DATE, DISPOSITION, LENGTH, SYSTEM-ID, TYPE BLOCK-CHECK Level of packet error detection. BUFFERS Size of send and receive packet buffers. CARRIER Treatment of carrier on terminal connections. CASE Treatment of alphabetic case in string comparisons. COMMAND Command terminal settings, such as BYTESIZE. COUNT Initialization of IF COUNT loops. DEBUG Log or display debugging information. DELAY How long to wait before sending first packet. DIAL Set parameters for modem dialing. DIAL-COMMENT, DIRECTORY, DISPLAY, HANGUP, INIT-STRING, KERMIT-SPOOF, MNP-ENABLE, MODEM-HANGUP, PREFIX, SPEED-MATCHING, TIMEOUT DUPLEX Specify which side echoes during CONNECT. ESCAPE Prefix for "escape commands" during CONNECT. FILE Set various file parameters. BYTESIZE, CHARACTER-SET, COLLISION, DISPLAY, INCOMPLETE, LABEL, NAMES, RECORD-LENGTH, TYPE FLOW-CONTROL Communication line full-duplex flow control. HANDSHAKE Communication line half-duplex turnaround character. HOST Specify network host name. INPUT Control behavior of INPUT command. CASE, ECHO, TIMEOUT-ACTION KEY Key mapping during terminal connection. LANGUAGE Enable language-specific character-set translations. LINE Communication line device name. MACRO Control aspects of macro execution. MODEM-DIALER Type of modem dialer, such as HAYES. PARITY Communication line character parity. PROMPT The C-Kermit program's interactive command prompt. RECEIVE Parameters for inbound packets. END-OF-PACKET, PACKET-LENGTH, PAD-CHARACTER, PADDING, START-OF-PACKET, TIMEOUT RETRY Packet retransmission limit. SEND Parameters for outbound packets. See RECEIVE for subparameters. Normally you need set only RECEIVE parameters. SEND parameters are automatically set by the Kermit on the other end. SERVER Parameters for server operation. DISPLAY, TIMEOUT SPEED Communication line speed, e.g. 2400, 9600. TAKE Control aspects of TAKE file execution. ECHO, ERROR TELNET TELNET protocol parameters. TERMINAL Terminal parameters. BYTESIZE, CHARACTER-SET, LOCKING-SHIFT, NEWLINE-MODE TRANSFER File transfer parameters. CHARACTER-SET, LOCKING-SHIFT TRANSMIT Control aspects of TRANSMIT command execution. ECHO, EOF, FILL, LINEFEED, LOCKING-SHIFT, PAUSE, PROMPT UNKNOWN-CHAR Specify handling of unknown character sets. WINDOW-SIZE File transfer window size. 3 SHOW_Command The SHOW command displays the current values of Kermit parameters, programming constructs etc. The usage is SHOW [ category ] where "category" may be any of the keywords listed below. SHOW without any argument gives a summary of the most important parameters affecting communication and file transfer. The available categories are as follows: ARGUMENTS List of currently-defined macro arguments. ARRAYS List of arrays defined. ATTRIBUTES Settings (on or off) of individual attributes. CHARACTER-SETS Current character-set selections. COMMUNICATIONS Settings of line speed, parity etc. COUNT Value of COUNT variable DEFAULT Default device and directory. DIAL Settings for DIAL command. ESCAPE Setting of escape character. FEATURES C-Kermit configuration features and options. FILE Settings for file transfer parameters. FUNCTIONS List of built-in functions. GLOBALS List of global variables and their values. KEY Value assigned to key subsequently pressed. LABELED-FILE-INFO Settings of VMS attributes to be encapsulated. LANGUAGES Languages available for SET LANGUAGE command. MACROS Listings of currently-defined macros. MODEM Modem type and modem signals on current LINE. NETWORK Available network support and current connection. PROTOCOL Packet sizes and other protocol-related data. SCRIPTS Settings in force for script processing. SERVER Server functions and whether enabled. STATUS SUCCESS or FAILURE of last command. TERMINAL Settings of terminal bytesize, character set etc. TRANSMIT Settings in force for TRANSMIT command. VARIABLES List built-in variables and their values. VERSIONS Versions of source modules used in compilation. 2 GENERAL_SYNOPSIS Kermit is a family of file transfer, management, and telecommunication programs available on many different computer operating systems and architectures. Kermit programs transfer both text and binary files completely and correctly, and most Kermit programs include dial-out and terminal connection capability. This help topic describes version 5A of C-Kermit, the Kermit program written in C for UNIX, (Open)VMS, and several other computer systems. Kermit is designed to help you communicate between two computers over dial-ups and other RS-232 lines, and in some cases also over networks. Once the connection is established, you can conduct a terminal session and you can transfer files. To transfer files, you need to run Kermit on both computers. Kermit is an "integrated" communications program. It does the same thing as separate dial-out programs like CU, tip or VAXNET and file transfer programs such as Xmodem. It also has a script language, which you can use to automate communications tasks. PC implementations of Kermit normally have a terminal emulator built in. The version of Kermit described in this help topic does not include a terminal emulator because most systems on which it is used don't need one. Kermit has one major philosophical difference from most file transfer programs. With programs such as Xmodem, in order to transfer a file you have to tell the program on the remote machine to send the file, then return to your local computer and tell it to receive the file. For every file to be sent or received, you must give commands to both computers. Kermit can operate in this way too, but an alternative mode of use allows you to control all operations from your local computer. In this mode the copy of Kermit on the remote machine acts as a "server". Your local computer initiates all operations, sending the necessary commands to the remote Kermit. In addition to transferring files, you can also tell Kermit to execute commands on the server, such as listing directories, deleting files, and even sending e-mail. Normally you give Kermit commands interactively. That is, to start Kermit, simply type the command "KERMIT" with no arguments. Once Kermit has started up, it will prompt you for commands. Kermit's command interpreter has good built-in help facilities. If you use the same command sequences a lot, you can put them into files, and get Kermit to execute them automatically. It is also possible to give Kermit commands by using options on the command line. The options available are described in the "Parameters" section of this help topic. Kermit's command language is too extensive to describe completely in a help topic, although other sections outline many of the facilities available. See "Using C-Kermit" for complete documentation. 2 INITIALIZATION When C-Kermit starts, it executes commands from its initialization file. The search for the initialization file proceeds in the following order: 1. If the "-Y" (uppercase) command-line option is given, initialization-file processing is skipped. Otherwise: 2. The file specified in the "-y" command-line option, if any. 3. The file CKERMIT_INI:CKERMIT.INI. 2. The file designated by the logical name CKERMIT_INIT. 3. The file SYS$LOGIN:CKERMIT.INI. C-Kermit executes those commands before prompting you for interactive commands. A typical initialization file might read as follows: SET RECEIVE PACKET 960 SET WINDOW 2 SET BLOCK 3 These commands set long packet sizes and a window size of 2 for receiving files, together with a strengthened checksum which is recommended for long packets. 2 KERMIT_HELP Kermit has extensive built-in help. You can find out what commands exist by typing ? in response to the "C-Kermit>" prompt. For commands that take multiple arguments, you can type ? wherever an argument is expected to see the possible choices; e.g. SET has many different things you can set, an example being SET RECEIVE PACKET-LENGTH 1000. You can type "SET ?", "SET RECEIVE ?", or "SET RECEIVE PACKET-LENGTH ?" to see the options available at each level. You can type also HELP followed by the name of a command for fuller information on it; e.g. "HELP SET" gives information about the "SET" command in general, "HELP SET RECEIVE" tells about the SET RECEIVE command. 2 Command_Line_Options The full syntax of the KERMIT command is as follows: KERMIT [cmdfile] [-x arg [-x arg]...[-yyy]...]] [= arg [arg ...]] where: cmdfile is an optional command file to be executed after initialization, -x is an option requiring an argument, -y an option with no argument, and arg is an argument word. Words after the = sign are ignored by the program but made available to the user in the array \&@[]. C-Kermit is often run without any command-line arguments or with just a command file, i.e. in one of the simpler variants: KERMIT or: KERMIT cmdfile Using this approach any Kermit parameters not set by the initialization file (see "INITIALIZATION" in this help topic), followed by those in "cmdfile" if present, may be set using interactive commands. Command-line options provide a further way to set certain parameters and/or initiate certain actions for that particular invocation of Kermit. This can be a useful short-cut in specific cases, e.g. KERMIT -s *.C will start up Kermit, send all files with a filetype of .C in the current directory, and then exit. From VMS, type the command "kermit -h" for a list of possible command- line options. The principal ones are listed below. The options are case-sensitive. Upper-case options must be enclosed in doublequotes. Settings: -l device Communication line device -j host Network host name (if network support included) -q Be Quiet during file transfer -i Binary file transfer -b rate Line speed (baud rate), e.g. 1200, used with -l -m name Modem type, e.g. hayes -p x Parity, x = e, o, m, s, or n -t Half duplex, XON handshake -e n Receive packet length -v n Window size -y name Alternate initialization file name -Y Do not execute initialization file -d Log debug information to DEBUG.LOG Actions: -s files Send files -s - Send files from standard input (SYS$INPUT) -r Receive files -k Receive files to standard output (SYS$OUTPUT) -x Enter server mode -f Finish remote server -g files Get remote files from server -a name Alternate file name, used with -s, -r, -g -c Connect (before file transfer, used with -l and -b) -n Connect (after file transfer, used with -l and -b) -S Stay (do not exit after executing action commands) If no action command is included, enter interactive dialog. 2 SCRIPT_PROGRAMMING C-Kermit contains a powerful programming language, permitting complex sequences of Kermit instructions to be executed under the control of a user-supplied program. The language features include simple variables, arrays, control structures, macros, and numeric and algebraic manipulations of variables including a range of built-in functions. Programmed sequences of commands are stored in regular VMS files. Such a program is executed by feeding the file to Kermit's command interpreter using the TAKE command, TAKE command-file The TAKE command may be issued as an interactive command at the "C-Kermit>" prompt. In addition, an implicit TAKE command reads the initialization file when Kermit is started, followed by a further one if a command file name has been included as a command-line option: thus either of these files may include program sequences. Command files may themselves contain TAKE commands. Command files may be nested in this way to any reasonable depth. 3 CONTROL_STRUCTURES Kermit's programming language provides several means for writing loops and for conditional branching or transfer of control. The principal control structures are summarized here. Simple loops are constructed using the FOR command. FOR loops take the form FOR variable iv fv step { command, command, ... } The FOR loop is controlled by a loop variable which is assigned an initial value (iv), gets tested against a final value (fv), and gets incremented by a step value. If the step value is positive, the loop exits when the loop variable is greater than the final value. If the step is negative, the loop exits when the variable becomes less than the final value. Conditional actions can be programmed using the IF, XIF ("extended if") or WHILE commands. The syntax of these is as follows: IF [NOT] condition command1 [ELSE command2] XIF condition { command1, command2... } [ ELSE { command3, ... } ] WHILE condition { command1, command2... } The simple IF can only execute one command if the condition is true; similarly the optional ELSE on the following line can only control one command. XIF and its optional ELSE clause typically has multiple commands enclosed in the braces, as does the WHILE form of loop. The XIF..[ELSE] and WHILE structures are each logically written all on one line, but may be spread over more than one actual line by use of the line continuation character - (hyphen). The conditions for which it is possible to test, illustrated in the context of the IF command, are as follows: IF SUCCESS The previous command succeeded. IF FAILURE The previous command failed. IF DEFINED name The named variable or macro is defined. IF COUNT Subtract one from COUNT, execute the command if the result is greater than zero (COUNT is a special variable used for simple counted loops, initialized by SET COUNT). IF EXIST filename The named file exists. IF NUMERIC variable The variable's value is numeric. IF EQUAL s1 s2 s1 and s2 (character strings or string variables) are equal. IF LLT s1 s2 s1 is lexically (alphabetically) less than s2. Use IF NOT LGT for less-than-or-equal. IF LGT s1 s1 s1 is lexically (alphabetically) greater than s2. Use IF NOT LLT for greater-than-or-equal. IF = n1 n2 n1 and n2 (numbers or numeric variables) are equal. IF < n1 n2 n1 is arithmetically less than n2. Use IF NOT > for less-than-or-equal. IF > n1 n2 n1 is arithmetically greater than n2\n. Use IF NOT < for greater-than-or-equal. Various commands exist to transfer control to another part of the program. These are often used in conjunction with a conditional of some nature. Examples are GOTO label Transfers control to the point in the program marked by "label". A label is a string preceded by a colon (:) at the beginning of a line, thus IF < \x% 10 GOTO LESS . . :LESS STOP Stops execution of the program and returns control to C-Kermit. END Exits from a macro or command file, and returns to the point from which the macro or file was called (also RETURN, see documentation for details). BREAK Exits unconditionally from closest enclosing FOR or WHILE loop. CONTINUE Forces jump to next iteration (if any) of closest enclosing FOR or WHILE loop. 3 EXPRESSIONS The \Feval function allows the following operators in the expression to be evaluated. The expression can use variables beginning with \%. Syntax, precedences etc. are shown below: Operator Fix Precedence Operation Example ( ) 1 Group (\%a + 3) * (\%1 - 5) ! Post 2 Factorial \%x! - (\%x - 2)! ~ Pre 3 Logical NOT ~\%n - Pre 3 Negative -\%n ^ In 4 Raise to power 2^\%p * In 5 Multiply \%c * 5 / In 5 Divide \%c / 5 % In 5 Modulus \%c % 5 & In 5 Logical AND \%c & 5 + In 6 Add \%t + \%u - In 6 Subtract 127 - \%x | In 6 Logical OR \%z | 4 # In 6 Exclusive OR \%z # 4 @ In 6 Greatest common \%z @ 30 divisor 3 FILE_HANDLING Kermit programs can read from and write to local files. The relevant commands are OPEN, CLOSE, READ and WRITE. The use of these is as follows: OPEN mode filename "Mode" can be READ, WRITE or APPEND. !READ and !WRITE are also allowed; the meaning of these is to read from or write to a VMS command rather than a physical file. E.g. OPEN READ KERMIT.DOC opens the (real) file KERMIT.DOC for reading, while OPEN !READ DIR *.TXT requests the directory listing of files with filetype .TXT as input. CLOSE mode E.g. CLOSE READ, CLOSE WRITE etc. Closes the file or input/output stream defined by the mode name. READ variable-name Reads a line of the file or command output, defined by the OPEN READ or OPEN !READ statement, into the variable specified. WRITE destination text-expression Writes the information generated by "text-expression" to the specified destination. "Destination" may be FILE, which writes to the file or output stream opened for writing by the appropriate OPEN statement, but may also be any of the four possible log files (DEBUG-LOG, PACKET-LOG, SESSION-LOG or TRANSACTION-LOG). "Text-expression" may contain text, variable names, functions, expressions etc. and is evaluated before writing. 3 FUNCTIONS A range of built-in functions is provided in C-Kermit. These are invoked via the general syntax \Fname(args). From within C-Kermit they can be listed via the command SHOW FUNCTIONS. \Fliteral(arg) copy argument literally, no evaluation \Fcharacter(arg) return the character corresponding to number or numeric variable arg \Fcode(arg) return numeric code of character arg \Fsubstr(a1,a2,a3) substring of a1, starting at a2, length a3 \Fright(a1,a2) rightmost a2 characters of string a1 \Flower(arg) convert to lower case \Fupper(arg) convert to upper case \Freverse(arg) reverse characters in string arg \Frepeat(a1,a2) repeat a1 a2 times \Flpad(text,n,c) left pad text to length n with char c \Frpad(text,n,c) right pad text to length n with char c \Fexecute(m a) execute macro named "m" with given parameters "a" \Fcontents(v) return current definition of variable \Fdefinition(m) return current definition of macro \Flength(arg) return the length of the string "arg" \Findex(a1,a2,a3) position of a2 in string a1, starting at position a3 \Ffiles(spec) number of files matching file specification \Fnextfile() next file name from list in last \Ffiles \Fmax(a1,a2) maximum of two numbers \Fmin(a1,a2) minimum of two numbers \Feval(expr) evaluate arithmetic expression 3 MACROS C-Kermit allows macros. A macro is a command that you define, composed of one or more other C-Kermit commands. A typical macro is a list of Kermit commands, separated by commas. For example: DEFINE SUN SET SPEED 9600, SET PARITY NONE, SET DUPLEX FULL,- SET FLOW XON/XOFF You call a macro by using its name, just like a normal command. You can also call a macro using the DO command. If you have given the DEFINE command above (or have it in your initialization file), then you can type SUN or DO SUN to execute all the commands in the definition. Macros have normal names (i.e. not beginning with \). You call them by using the name like a command. If you put additional words on the same line as the macro invocation, these become arguments. Inside the macro, you can refer to the arguments as \%1, \%2, etc. For example: C-Kermit>DEFINE BSEND SET FILE TYPE BINARY, SEND \%1 C-Kermit>DEFINE TSEND SET FILE TYPE TEXT, SEND \%1 C-Kermit>BSEND KERMIT.EXE C-Kermit>TSEND KERMIT.DOC The number of arguments supplied can be referred to as \v(argc). If you call another macro from a macro, the new one gets its own set of arguments, which do not interfere with the previous set. 3 TERMINAL_DIALOG The interactive command CONNECT and the escape sequence Ctrl-\ C, which normally switch the console terminal between the two computers, cannot be used in a scripted sequence. Instead there are two commands, INPUT and OUTPUT, which control the dialog in the script context, supplemented by a few other commands. Brief details are as follows: OUTPUT text Send the text to the other computer. INPUT timeout text Read responses from the other computer. Wait up to "timeout" seconds for the specified text to appear. If the text appears within the timeout interval, the command succeeds immediately. Otherwise it fails. Test with IF SUCCESS or IF FAILURE. REINPUT timeout text Searches previous responses from the computer for the given text. The timeout parameter is ignored. ECHO [ text ] Display the text on the local screen, followed by a newline. CLEAR { INPUT, DEVICE, BOTH } Clear any as-yet-unread characters from the communication device's input buffer, the INPUT command buffer, or both. PAUSE [ n ] Do nothing for the indicated number of seconds, the default being 1. For further details of these and related commands, see the full documentation, "Using C-Kermit". A special case of programmed terminal dialog, intended mainly for UUCP-style login sequences, is provided by the SCRIPT command. 4 SCRIPT_Command SCRIPT is a concise method for specifying a dialog between your system and another one. There is also a more powerful general purpose script programming language, whose commands are described elsewhere in this help topic. The SCRIPT command can be used for dialing, logging in, etc. The syntax consists of strings separated by spaces. The syntax is SCRIPT expect send [expect send] . . . Kermit waits until it sees the expect string, and then sends the send string. If there are several pairs, it waits for each expect string, and then sends the send string. (To specify a null expect string, i.e. to tell Kermit not to wait, use ~0 as the expect string.) It normally waits up to 15 seconds for each expect string. However ~w can be used to redefine this time. If the expect string does not arrive, the script fails at that point. If you want to be able to do something about failure, you can use conditional strings, of the form -send-expect[-send-expect[...]] You can think of this as giving a list of things to try. The first time one succeeds (i.e. an expected string arrives), the command terminates. At that point Kermit skips to the end of the dashed sequence. If an expect fails, Kermit simply proceeds with the next send in the dashed sequence. Within the strings, some special sequences can be used: ~b backspace ~s space ~q `?' (trapped by Kermit's command interpreter) ~n linefeed ~r carriage return ~t tab ~' single quote ~- dash (hyphen) ~~ tilde ~" double quote ~x XON (Control-Q) ~c don't append a carriage return ~o[o[o]] octal representation of an ASCII character code ~d delay approx 1/3 second during send ~w[d[d]] set wait for next expect to "dd" seconds \\b send a BREAK signal Kermit sends a carriage return after each of the send strings unless the string has a ~c. 3 VARIABLES C-Kermit also lets you define variables. Normal variables look like \%i, where i is a single letter. The alphabetic case doesn't matter, i.e. \%a and \%A are the same variable. Like macros, they are defined by DEFINE or ASSIGN. All values are strings. DEFINE gives a variable a fixed value. ASSIGN computes a value and assigns it to the variable. To see the difference, look at DEFINE \%A Monday DEFINE \%B Today is \%A ASSIGN \%C Today is \%A DEFINE \%A Tuesday ECHO \%B ECHO \%C This will print "Today is Tuesday" then "Today is Monday". The difference is that when defining \%C, the \%A is evaluated at the time of the definition, whereas when defining \%B, the variable name \%A itself is put in the definition. It isn't evaluated until the command "ECHO \%B" is obeyed. There are also arrays, which use \& instead of \%. They are declared by DECLARE, e.g. DECLARE \&A[100]. Elements are referenced with subscripts, which may themselves be variables, and act like simple variables, e.g. DEFINE \&A[3] Tuesday The first subscript of an array is [1]. You can destroy the array by making it zero size, e.g. DECLARE \&A[0]. 4 PREDEFINED There are a number of built-in variables, which are referred to by \v(name). They cannot be changed by the user. To list these from within C-Kermit give the command SHOW VARIABLES. Descriptions are given below. \v(argc) number of arguments passed to currently active macro. \v(args) number of arguments passed to the program on the command line. The program argument vector is assigned to the array \&@[]. \v(cmdfile) name of currently active command file, if any \v(cmdlevel) current command level (command stack depth) \v(cmdsource) source of current commands: prompt, macro, or file \v(count) current value of COUNT (loop control via SET COUNT, IF COUNT). \v(cpu) CPU hardware type, if known, otherwise "unknown". \v(date) current date in dd mmm yyyy format (e.g. 8 Feb 1992). \v(day) current day of the week, e.g. Mon, Tue, Wed. \v(directory) current device and/or directory. \v(exitstatus) current program exit status. \v(filespec) file specification from most recent SEND, MSEND, or GET command, or the name of the file most recently received. \v(fsize) size of last file transferred. \v(home) user's home (login) directory name. \v(host) local computer's hostname. \v(input) current INPUT buffer contents. \v(line) current communication device or network host name. \v(local) 1 if C-Kermit in local mode, 0 if in remote mode. \v(macro) name of currently executing macro, if any. \v(ndate) current date in numeric format, e.g. 19911225. \v(nday) numeric day of the week: 0, 1, 2, ..., 6. \v(ntime) current time in seconds since midnight, 0 through 86399. \v(platform) name of specific machine or environment for which C-Kermit was built. \v(program) name of program (C-Kermit). \v(return) value of most recent RETURN command. \v(speed) transmission speed of current communication device, if known. (A spurious value of 38400 might be reported for pseudoterminals.) \v(status) 0 if the previous command succeeded, nonzero if it failed. \v(system) name of generic operating system for which C-Kermit was built, such as UNIX or VMS. \v(tfsize) total size of all files in the last group of files that was transferred. \v(time) current time in hh:mm:ss 24-hour clock format (e.g. 13:45:23). \v(version) numeric version number of C-Kermit. 2 TRANSFERRING_FILES To transfer files, Kermit must be run on both of the computers involved. Transfers may be carried out either by controlling both computers directly, or by putting one of them into "server" mode and controlling operations entirely from the other. In the first method, one computer is given a SEND command, and the other with a corresponding RECEIVE command. The user switches control from one computer to the other using: (a) the CONNECT command - this switches control from the "local" system (usually, but not necessarily, the microcomputer or workstation on the user's desktop) to the "remote" system; and (b) the "escape sequence" - this switches control from the remote system back to the local system. The escape sequence is normally Ctrl-\ C (Control-backslash followed by "C") for C-Kermit, but Alt-X or Ctrl-] C (Control-] followed by "C") for MS-DOS or OS/2 Kermit. The second method using one of the Kermits as a server is described in the "SERVER_USAGE" sub-topic. 3 CHARACTER_SETS C-Kermit has the ability to send, receive and store files in a wide range of 7-bit and 8-bit character sets, including many which are designed for languages other than English. Two character sets have to be distinguished: that which applies to the file as stored under VMS, and that used "on the wire" (i.e. the communications line or network connection) during file transfer. These are set via the commands "SET FILE CHARACTER-SET" and "SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET" respectively. The possible arguments for the SET FILE CHARACTER-SET command are: Name Bits Script ASCII 7 Roman BRITISH 7 Roman CANADIAN-FRENCH 7 Roman CP437 8 Roman, West European multinational CP850 8 Roman, West European multinational CP852 8 Roman, East European multinational CP866-CYRILLIC 8 Cyrillic CYRILLIC-ISO 8 Cyrillic DANISH 7 Roman DEC-KANJI 16 Japanese DEC-MULTINATIONAL 8 Roman, West European multinational DG-INTERNATIONAL 8 Roman, West European multinational DUTCH 7 Roman FINNISH 7 Roman FRENCH 7 Roman GERMAN 7 Roman HUNGARIAN 7 Roman ITALIAN 7 Roman JAPANESE-EUC 16 Japanese JIS7-KANJI 16 Japanese KOI8-CYRILLIC 8 Cyrillic LATIN1-ISO 8 Roman, West European multinational LATIN2-ISO 8 Roman, East European multinational MACINTOSH-LATIN 8 Roman, West European multinational NEXT-MULTINATIONAL 8 Roman, West European multinational NORWEGIAN 7 Roman PORTUGUESE 7 Roman SHIFT-JIS-KANJI 16 Japanese SHORT-KOI 7 Cyrillic SPANISH 7 Roman SWEDISH 7 Roman SWISS 7 Roman The possible arguments for the SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET command are: Name Bits Script ASCII 7 Roman CYRILLIC-ISO 8 Cyrllic JAPANESE-EUC 16 Japanese LATIN1-ISO 8 Roman, West European Multinational LATIN2-ISO 8 Roman, East European Multinational TRANSPARENT where TRANSPARENT (the default) implies that no translation is attempted. For translation between character sets involving accented or other foreign language characters, it will normally be necessary to use an 8-bit transfer character set such as LATIN1-ISO or CYRILLIC-ISO. 3 SERVER_USAGE Here's one way to use Kermit to transfer files. It makes use of the "server" capability of VMS C-Kermit. The procedure is as follows: + Run Kermit on your local (desktop) computer. + Establish connection to the VMS computer. If your local computer is running C-Kermit, and you are dialing with a modem, then use the sequence SET MODEM <modem-name>, SET SPEED <rate>, DIAL <number>. If you are using MS-DOS or other Kermit that lacks a DIAL command, carry on to the next step. + Set any other necessary communication parameters, such as PARITY, DUPLEX, and FLOW-CONTROL. + Give the CONNECT command. If you have a modem, but have not yet dialed the VMS computer, type the modem dialing commands now. + Log in to VMS. + Start C-Kermit on VMS, and give it any desired SET commands for file, communication, or protocol-related parameters. If you will be transferring binary files, give the command SET FILE TYPE BINARY to the remote Kermit. + Give C-Kermit the SERVER command. + Escape back to the Kermit program on your local (desktop) computer. If your local computer is running C-Kermit, type Ctrl-\ C (Control-backslash followed by the letter "C"). If using MS-DOS Kermit, use Alt-X or Ctrl-] C. You should now see your local Kermit program's prompt. + If you will be transferring binary files, give the command SET FILE TYPE BINARY. + Use GET followed by the filename to get files from VMS to your local computer. Use SEND followed by the filename to put files from your local computer to VMS. You may use "wildcard" characters such as * and ? in the filenames to specify groups of files. + When you finish transferring files, and you need to continue your work on VMS, type FINISH and then CONNECT. You're now talking to C-Kermit on VMS. + If you don't need to go back to the remote computer again, type the BYE command to the local Kermit program. This will shut down the remote Kermit server and terminate (log you off) your VMS session. 3 VMS_SPECIFICS The standard Kermit file types of BINARY and TEXT should cope with most circumstances when files are transferred to or from VMS systems. When sending, VMS files whose record organization is "Fixed" or "Undefined" are assumed to be BINARY; all other file types are assumed to be TEXT. The default record length for binary files is 512 bytes. This can be changed by the command "SET FILE RECORD-LENGTH n". SET FILE TYPE LABELED is an option specific to VMS C-Kermit. If invoked when sending a file, this causes the majority of the VMS file attributes to be encoded and sent as part of the file to the other system. This information cannot be utilized by other (non- VMS) systems, but it is useful (a) for transmitting VMS file attributes between two different VMS systems; (b) for storing a file on a non-VMS system, while still allowing its attributes to be recreated when it is imported back into VMS. When sending or receiving a VMS file of type LABELED, set the file type on the other system to BINARY. Labeled files inported from another system do not have their attributes recreated automatically: an external utility CKVCVT is provided to do this. A further sub-topic describes the options available when running CKVCVT. 4 CKVCVT The CKVCVT utility regenerates VMS file attributes from a file which has earlier been exported from VMS using the SET FILE TYPE LABELED option. Note that this is a completely separate program from Kermit. If desired it can be run from within Kermit by giving a command of the form "! CKVCVT parameters". Format CKVCVT input-file [ options ] The command-line options are as follows: -a Preserve file ACL data (may require privileges) -b Preserve file backup date -d Print debugging information -f fn Name output file fn instead of default -i Inquire if a file is labeled -o Preserve file ownership (requires privileges) -s Strip one level of label information -t Don't trim paths from output file name -? Display this message