Delimeters and special characters
Table 1 lists characters
have special meanings in composer commands.
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| & | Command delimiter. See Running the composer program. |
| ; | Argument delimiter. For example: |
| = | Value delimiter. For example: |
| : ! | Command prefixes that pass the command on to the
system. These prefixes are optional; if composer does not recognize
the command, it is passed automatically to the system. For example:
|
| << >> | Comment brackets. Comments can be placed on a single
line anywhere in a job stream. For example: |
| * | Comment prefix. When this prefix is the first character
on a line, the entire line is a comment. When the prefix follows a
command, the remainder of the line is a comment. For example: |
| > | Redirects command output to a file, overwriting
the contents of that file. If the file does not exist, it is created.
For example: |
| >> | Redirects command output to a file and appends
the output to the end of file. If the file does not exist, it is created.
For example: |
| | | Pipes command output to a system command or process.
The system command is run whether or not output is generated. For
example: |
| || | Pipes command output to a system command or process.
The system command is not run if there is no output. For example:
|