HP OpenVMS Systems Documentation

HP OpenVMS DCL Dictionary

Returns attribute information for a specified file.

Format

F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES (filespec,item)

Return Value

Arguments

filespec

Specifies the name of the file about which you are requesting information. You must specify the file name as a character string expression.

You can specify only one file name. Wildcard characters are not allowed.

item

Indicates which attribute of the file is to be returned. The item argument must be specified as a character string expression, and can be any one of the OpenVMS RMS field names listed in Table DCLI-5.

Description

Use the F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES lexical function in DCL assignment statements and expressions to return file attribute information. Table DCLI-5 lists the items you can specify with the F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES function, the information returned, and the data type of this information.

Table DCLI-5 F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES Items

Item	Return Type	Information Returned
AI	String	TRUE if after-image (AI) journaling is enabled; FALSE if disabled.
ALQ	Integer	Allocation quantity.
BDT	String	Backup date/time.
BI	String	TRUE if before-image (BI) journaling is enabled; FALSE if disabled.
BKS	Integer	Bucket size.
BLS	Integer	Block size.
CBT	String	TRUE if contiguous-best-try; otherwise FALSE.
CDT	String	Creation date/time.
CTG	String	TRUE if contiguous; otherwise FALSE.
DEQ	Integer	Default extension quantity.
DID	String	Directory ID string.
DIRECTORY	String	Returns TRUE or FALSE. Returns TRUE if it is a directory.
DVI	String	Device name string.
EDT	String	Expiration date/time.
EOF	Integer	Number of blocks used.
ERASE	String	TRUE if a file's contents are erased before a file is deleted; otherwise FALSE.
FFB	Integer	First free byte.
FID	String	File ID string.
FILE_LENGTH_HINT	String	Record count and data byte count in the form ( n,m), where n is the record count and m is the data byte count. An invalidated count is specified by a -1 for n or m.
FSZ	Integer	Fixed control area size.
GBC	Integer	Global buffer count.
GBC32	Integer	Enhanced longword version of global buffer count with a per-file maximum size of about 2.1 billion for indexed files.
GBCFLAGS	String	Per-file management flags for sizing of global buffer cache. Returns PERCENT if global buffer count is expresses as a percent, DEFAULT if global buffer size is determined at runtime by an algorithm using two global buffer SYSGEN parameters (GB_CACHEALLMAX and GB_DEFPERCENT); or NONE if no per-file management flags are enabled for the file.
GRP	Integer	Owner group number.
JOURNAL_FILE	String	TRUE if the file is a journal; otherwise FALSE.
KNOWN	String	Known file; returns TRUE or FALSE to indicate whether file is installed with the Install utility (INSTALL). However, returns NOSUCHFILE if a file does not exist (for example, the file has been installed but subsequently deleted).
LOCKED	String	TRUE if a file is deaccessed-locked; otherwise FALSE.
LRL	Integer	Longest record length.
MBM	Integer	Owner member number.
MOVE	String	TRUE if movefile operations are enabled; otherwise FALSE.
MRN	Integer	Maximum record number.
MRS	Integer	Maximum record size.
NOA	Integer	Number of areas.
NOBACKUP	String	FALSE if the file is marked for backup; TRUE if the file is marked NOBACKUP.
NOK	Integer	Number of keys.
ORG	String	File organization; returns SEQ, REL, IDX.
PRESHELVED (Alpha/I64 only)	String	TRUE if the file is preshelved; otherwise FALSE.
PRO	String	File protection string.
PVN	Integer	Prolog version number.
RAT	String	Record attributes; returns CR, PRN, FTN, "".
RCK	String	TRUE if read check; otherwise FALSE.
RDT	String	Revision date/time.
RFM	String	Record format string; returns the values VAR, FIX, VFC, UDF, STM, STMLF, STMCR.
RU	String	TRUE if recovery unit (RU) journaling is enabled; returns TRUE or FALSE.
RVN	Integer	Revision number.
SHELVABLE	String	TRUE if the file is shelvable; otherwise FALSE.
SHELVED	String	TRUE if the file is shelved; otherwise FALSE.
STORED_SEMANTICS	String	ASCII string that represents stored semantics.
UIC	String	Owner user identification code (UIC) string.
VERLIMIT	Integer	Version limit number. The value 32767 indicates that no version limit was set.
WCK	String	TRUE if write check; otherwise FALSE.

File attributes are stored in the file header, which is created from information in OpenVMS RMS control blocks. For more information on OpenVMS RMS control blocks, see the OpenVMS Record Management Services Reference Manual.

Examples

$ FILE_ORG = F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES("QUEST.DAT","ORG")
$ SHOW SYMBOL FILE_ORG
  FILE_ORG = "SEQ"
      

This example uses the F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES function to assign the value of the file organization type to the symbol FILE_ORG. The F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES function returns the character string SEQ to show that QUEST.DAT is a sequential file.

The QUEST.DAT and ORG arguments for the F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES function are string literals and must be enclosed in quotation marks (" ") when used in expressions.

$ RFM = F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES("KANSAS::USE$:[CARS]SALES.CMD","RFM")
$ SHOW SYMBOL RFM
  RFM = "VAR"
      

This example uses the F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES function to return information about a file on a remote node. The function returns the record format string VAR, indicating that records are variable length.