General notational conventions

The following general notational conventions are used in this manual to indicate the format of BS2000 commands and program statements:

*STD	All uppercase letters, digits, and special characters that are not part of the “metalanguage” denote keywords or constants and must be entered exactly as shown.
-R msg_id	Uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and special characters in typewritten text denote constants and must be entered exactly as shown.
name	Lowercase letters in italics denote variables that must be replaced by current values at the time of input (see also <name>).
<name>	In SDF formats, variables are additionally enclosed in angle brackets.
YES NO	Underlining denotes the default value, i.e. the value that is automatically used if no specification is made.
{ YES / NO } { OFF | ON }	Braces enclose alternatives, i.e. one of the specified values must be selected. The alternatives are separated by a slash or a vertical line. No entry is required if the underlined default value is desired.
[ ]	Square brackets enclose options that may be omitted.
( )	Parentheses are constants and must be specified.
'BLANK'	This symbol indicates that at least one whitespace character is necessary for the syntax.
...	Ellipses signify repetition, which means that the preceeding unit can be repeated several times in succession.
	For informative texts.