Rexx Programmer's Reference

Appendix B. Instructions

This appendix provides a reference to all Rexx instructions, as defined by the ANSI-1996 standard. It also points out the major differences in the instructions between the ANSI-1996 standard and the earlier standard defined by TRL-2. This appendix is intended as a quick reference guide for developers, so please see the full ANSI-1996 and TRL-2 standards if more detailed information is required. Appendix A tells where to obtain the two standards.

Each entry is in this appendix identified by the instruction name. Entries contain the template for the instruction, which shows its operands, if any. The template is followed by a description of the instruction and its use, as well as an explanation of the operands. Coding examples show how to code each instruction.

In reading the instruction formats, operands that may optionally be encoded are surrounded by brackets ([ ]). The "or" bar (|) represents situations where you should encode either one set of operands or the other. Let's look at the address instruction template as an example:

ADDRESS   |  environment  [ command ]    |
          |  [ VALUE ]  expression       |

Brackets surround the command operand, so this means that its encoding on the instruction is optional. The same pertains to the VALUE keyword. Note that as a hardcoded keyword, VALUE appears in capital letters. The "or" bars vertically surround each of the two lines above, so you would code either one group of operands or the other. In this example, you would choose either ...