vc(1)								   User Commands							     vc(1)

NAME

       vc - version control

SYNOPSIS

       vc [-a] [-t] [-c char] [-s] [ keyword=value... keyword=value]

DESCRIPTION

       This command is obsolete and will be removed in the next release.

       The  vc	command  copies lines from the standard input to the standard output under control of its  arguments and of ``control statements''
       encountered in the standard input. In the process of performing the copy operation, user-declared keywords may be replaced by their  string
       value when they appear in plain text and/or control statements.

       The  copying of lines from the standard input to the standard output is conditional, based on tests (in control statements) of keyword val-
       ues specified in control statements or as vc command arguments.

       A control statement is a single line beginning with a control character, except as modified by the -t keyletter (see  below).  The  default
       control	character is colon (:), except as modified by the -c keyletter (see below). Input lines beginning with a backslash () followed by
       a control character are not control lines and are copied to the standard output with the backslash removed. Lines beginning  with  a  back-
       slash followed by a non-control character are copied in their entirety.

       A  keyword is composed of 9 or less alphanumerics; the first must be alphabetic. A value is any ASCII string that can be created with ed; a
       numeric value is an unsigned string of digits. Keyword values may not contain blanks or tabs.

       Replacement of keywords by values is done whenever a keyword  surrounded by control characters is encountered on a version  control  state-
       ment.  The -a keyletter (see below) forces replacement of keywords in all lines of text. An uninterpreted control character may be included
       in a value by preceding it with . If a literal  is desired, then it too must be preceded by .

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -a	Forces replacement of keywords surrounded by control characters with their assigned value in all text lines and  not  just  in	vc
		statements.

       -t	All characters from the beginning of a line up to and including the first tab character are ignored for the purpose of detecting a
		control statement.  If a control statement is found, all characters up to and including the tab are discarded.

       -cchar	Specifies a control character to be used in place of the ``:'' default.

       -s	Silences warning messages (not error) that are normally printed on the diagnostic output.

       vc recognizes the following version control statements:

       :dcl keyword[, ..., keyword]    Declare keywords.  All keywords must be declared.

       :asg keyword=value	       Assign values to keywords. An asg statement overrides the assignment for the corresponding keyword  on  the
				       vc  command  line  and all previous asg statements for that keyword. Keywords that are declared but are not
				       assigned values have null values.

       :if condition
       ...
       :end
				       Skip lines of the standard input.  If the condition is true, all lines between the  if  statement  and  the
				       matching  end statement are copied to the standard output. If the condition is false, all intervening lines
				       are discarded, including control statements. Note:  Intervening if statements and matching  end	statements
				       are recognized solely for the purpose of maintaining the proper if-end matching.

				       The syntax of a condition is:

				       <cond>	       ::=  [ ``not'' ] <or>

				       <or>	       ::=  <and> | <and> ``|'' <or>

				       <and>	       ::=  <exp> | <exp> ``&'' <and>

				       <exp>	       ::=  ``('' <or> ``)'' | <value> <op> <value>

				       <op>	       ::=  ``='' | ``!='' | ``<'' | ``>''

				       <value>	       ::=  <arbitrary ASCII string> | <numeric string>

				       The available operators and their meanings are:

				       =	equal

				       !=	not equal

				       &	and

				       |	or

				       >	greater than

				       <	less than

				       ()	used for logical groupings

				       not	may  only occur immediately after the if, and when present, inverts the value of the entire condi-
						tion

				       The > and < operate only on unsigned integer values (for example, : 012 > 12 is false). All other operators
				       take strings as arguments (for example, : 012 != 12 is true).

				       The precedence of the operators (from highest to lowest) is:

				       = != > <        all of equal precedence

				       &

				       |

				       Parentheses may be used to alter the order of precedence.

				       Values must be separated from operators or parentheses by at least one blank or tab.

       ::text			       Replace	keywords  on  lines that are copied to the standard output. The two leading control characters are
				       removed, and keywords surrounded by control characters in text are replaced by their value before the  line
				       is copied to the output file. This action is independent of the -a keyletter.

       :on			       Turn on or off keyword replacement on all lines.
       :off

       :ctl char		       Change the control character to char.

       :msg message		       Print message on the diagnostic output.

       :err message		       Print message followed by:

					     ERROR: err statement on line ... (915)

				       on the diagnostic output. vc halts execution, and returns an exit code of 1.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWsprot 		   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       ed(1), attributes(5)

SunOS 5.10							    5 Jul 1990								     vc(1)