@Part(CKUNIX,root="kuser") @string[-ckversion="5A(180) BETA"] @define(exx=example,above 2,below 1) @define(d4=description,leftmargin +4,indent -4,group,blanklines hinge) @define(d8=description,leftmargin +8,indent -8,group,blanklines hinge) @define(d128=description,leftmargin +12,indent -8,group,blanklines hinge) @define(d62=description,leftmargin +6,indent -2,group,blanklines hinge) @define(d84=description,leftmargin +8,indent -4,group,blanklines hinge) @Chapter @index@index @case(device,file="********@* This document is formatted as an ordinary, plain text ASCII disk file. Typeset copies are available from Columbia University. Changes should be made to CKUKER.MSS.@*********") @Begin @i(Program:)@\Frank da Cruz (Columbia University), contributions by many others. @i(Language:)@\C @i(Documentation:)@\Christine Gianone, Frank da Cruz (Columbia University). @i(Version:)@\@value(-ckversion) @i(Date: )@\May 26, 1992 @end @subheading @begin @tabclear()@tabset(3.5inches,4.0inches) Local operation:@\Yes Remote operation:@\Yes Transfer text files:@\Yes Transfer binary files:@\Yes International text:@\Yes Wildcard send:@\Yes File transfer interruption:@\Yes Filename collision actions:@\Yes Can time out:@\Yes 8th-bit prefixing:@\Yes Repeat count prefixing:@\Yes Alternate block checks:@\Yes Automatic parity detection:@\Yes Dynamic packet length:@\Yes CONNECT mode:@\Yes Terminal emulation:@\Depends on implementation Key mapping:@\Yes Communication settings:@\Yes Transmit BREAK:@\Yes (most versions) Support for dialout modems:@\Yes TCP/IP support:@\Yes (some versions, Berkeley sockets) X.25 support:@\Yes (SUN versions with SunLink) IBM mainframe communication:@\Yes Transaction logging:@\Yes Session logging:@\Yes Debug logging:@\Yes Packet logging:@\Yes Act as server:@\Yes Talk to server:@\Yes Advanced server functions:@\Yes Security for server:@\Yes Local file management:@\Yes Command/Init files:@\Yes Long packets:@\Yes Sliding Windows:@\Yes File attributes packets:@\Yes Command macros:@\Yes Script programming language:@\Yes Raw file transmit and capture:@\Yes @end @newpage() @begin @bar() @i The user manual for the current release of C-Kermit is @i"Using C-Kermit", by Frank @w and Christine M@. Gianone, published by Digital Press, Burlington, MA. Publication date: Fall 1992. After Fall 1992, call Digital Press at 1-800-344-4825 for further information. @bar() @end @section(Acknowledgements) Thanks to the dozens of people who have been involved in C-Kermit development over the years, especially Bill Catchings, Jeff Damens and Chris Maio (formerly of Columbia University), and Herm Fischer of Encino, CA, for their roles in its initial development. And special thanks to those who put so much work into features or testing of version 5A: @begin(format, above 1, below 1, leftmargin +4) Kristoffer Eriksson (Peridot Konsult AB, @uoum()rebro, Sweden) Bo Kullmar (Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden), Stockholm) Tor Lillqvist (Helsinki University, Finland) Warren H@. Tucker (Tridom Corporation, Mountain Park, Georgia, USA) Peter Mauzey (AT&T Bell Laboratories, Middletown, New Jersey, USA) Terry Kennedy (St Peters College, Jersey City, NJ, USA) Chuck Hedrick (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA) Joe R@. Doupnik (Utah State University, USA) Hirofumi Fujii (Japan National Lab for High Energy Physics, Tokyo) Ken Yap (University of Rochester, New York, USA) Marcello Frutig (Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Paul Placeway (BBN, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) Mark Buda (Digital Equipment Corporation, New Hampshire, USA) William Bader (Software Consulting Services, Nazareth, PA, USA) Steve Walton (California State University Northridge, USA) Rick Watson (University of Texas at Austin, USA) Peter Svanberg (Royal Techn. HS, Sweden) Michel Robitaille (University of Montreal, Canada) Kai Uwe Rommel (Technische Universit@aum()t Muenchen, Germany) Paul Kline (Drake University, USA) Chris Adie (Edinburgh University, Scotland, UK) Chris Armstrong (Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, USA) James Harvey (Indiana/Purdue University, USA) Bob Larson (University of Southern California, USA) Christian Hemsing (RWTH Aachen, Germany) Bruce J@. Moore (Allen-Bradley Co, Highland Heights, OH) @end(format) Kristoffer, Bo, Warren, and Peter comprised the "modem committee", which worked long and hard to rationalize C-Kermit's treatment of modem signals in the many and varied UNIX environments. Kristoffer and Bo also contributed much code to the UNIX-specific support modules. Kristoffer deserves a special Archaeology Achievement Award for a detailed study and unraveling of many years' accretions of incomprehensible "magic" in the infamous @q module (a collection of supposedly simple functions that give the emphatic lie to all claims that UNIX is a "portable operating system"). Ken got the TCP/IP support started by supplying the socket-opening code for the Berkeley UNIX version. Marcello supplied the SunLink X.25 code. Paul Placeway, Rick Watson, Peter Svanberg, Paul Kline, and Michel Robitaille contributed enormously to the Macintosh version (and continue to do so). The two Chris's, and more recently Kai-Uwe, for the OS/2 version; Terry, William, James, Mark for the VAX/VMS version; Steve for the Amiga version; Christian for the OS-9 version; Bruce for the Atari ST version. Chuck found and fixed many bugs and contributed many valuable insights, as well as writing the UNIX "man page" for C-Kermit 5A. And thanks to the indefatigable and omniscient Joe Doupnik (author of MS-DOS Kermit), who worked closely with the authors on the design of the sliding window algorithms, the script programming language, and the international character set support during the joint development effort for MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 and C-Kermit 5A (and in his spare time, Joe lent a hand with the AT&T 7300 UNIX PC version of C-Kermit). And finally, thanks to the dozens (hundreds) of others who tested C-Kermit on dozens (hundreds) of hardware and software platforms and contributed bug reports, fixes, new features, and suggestions: @begin Chris Adie, Edinburgh U, Scotland (OS/2 support) Robert Adsett, University of Waterloo, Canada Larry Afrin, Clemson U Barry Archer, U of Missouri Robert Andersson, International Systems A/S, Oslo, Norway Chris Armstrong, Brookhaven National Lab (OS/2) William Bader, Moravian College Fuat Baran, CUCCA Stan Barber, Rice U Jim Barbour, U of Colorado Donn Baumgartner, Dell Nelson Beebe, U of Utah Karl Berry, UMB Dean W Bettinger, SUNY Gary Bilkus Marc Boucher, U of Montreal Charles Brooks, EDN Bob Brown Mike Brown, Purdue U Jack Bryans, California State U at Long Beach Mark Buda, DEC (VAX/VMS) Bjorn Carlsson, Stockholm University Computer Centre QZ, Sweden Bill Catchings, formerly of CUCCA Bob Cattani, Columbia U CS Dept Davide Cervone, Rochester University Seth Chaiklin, Denmark John Chandler, Harvard U / Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory John L Chmielewski, AT&T, Lisle, IL Howard Chu, U of Michigan Bill Coalson, McDonnell Douglas Bertie Coopersmith, London, UK Chet Creider, University of Western Ontario, Canada Alan Crosswell, CUCCA Jeff Damens, formerly of CUCCA Mark Davies, Bath U, UK S. Dezawa, Fujifilm, Japan Joe R. Doupnik, Utah State U Frank Dreano (Honeywell) John Dunlap, University of Washington David Dyck, John Fluke Mfg Co. Bernie Eiben, DEC Kristoffer Eriksson, Peridot Konsult AB, Oerebro, Sweden John R. Evans, IRS, Kansas City Glenn Everhart, RCA Labs Herm Fischer, Encino, CA (extensive contributions to version 4.0) Carl Fongheiser, CWRU Marcello Frutig, Catholic University, Sao Paulo, Brazil (X.25 support) Hirofumi Fujii, Japan Nat'l Lab for High Energy Physics, Tokyo (Kanji) Chuck Fuller, PSC Andy Fyfe, Caltech Christine M. Gianone, CUCCA John Gilmore, UC Berkeley German Goldszmidt, IBM Alistair Gorman, New Zealand Chris Green, Essex U, UK Alan Grieg, Dundee Tech, Scotland, UK Yekta Gursel, MIT Jim Guyton, Rand Corp Michael Haertel Marion Hakanson John Hamilston, Iowa State U Simon Hania, Netherlands Stan Hanks, Rice U. Ken Harrenstein, SRI James Harvey, Indiana/Purdue U (VMS) Rob Healey Chuck Hedrick, Rutgers U Ron Heiby, Technical Systems Division, Motorola Computer Group Steve Hemminger, Tektronix Christian Hemsing, RWTH Aachen, Germany (OS-9) Andrew Herbert, Monash Univ, Australia Mike Hickey, ITI R E Hill Bill Homer, Cray Research Randy Huntziger, National Library of Medicine Larry Jacobs, Transarc Steve Jenkins, Lancaster University, UK Mark B Johnson, Apple Computer Eric F Jones, AT&T Luke Jones, AT&T Peter Jones, U of Quebec Montreal Phil Julian, SAS Institute Mic Kaczmarczik, U of Texas at Austin Sergey Kartashoff, Inst. of Precise Mechanics & Computer Equipment, Moscow Howie Kaye, CUCCA Rob Kedoin, Linotype Co, Hauppauge, NY (OS/2) Mark Kennedy, IBM Terry Kennedy, St Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ (VAX/VMS, 2.11 BSD) Douglas Kingston, morgan.com Tom Kloos, Sequent Computer Systems Jim Knutson, U of Texas at Austin David Kricker, Encore Computer Thomas Krueger, UWM Bo Kullmar, Central Bank of Sweden, Kista John Kunze, UC Berkeley Bob Larson, USC (OS-9) Bert Laverman, Groningen U, Netherlands Steve Layton David Lawyer, UC Irvine S.O. Lidie, Lehigh U Tor Lillqvist, Helsinki University, Finland Dean Long Kevin Lowey, U of Saskatchewan (OS/2) Andy Lowry, Columbia University David MacKenzie, Environmental Defense Fund, University of Maryland John Mackin, University of Sidney, Australia Martin Maclaren, Bath U, UK Chris Maio, Columbia U CS Dept Fulvio Marino, Olivetti, Ivrea, Italy Peter Mauzey, AT&T Tye McQueen, Utah State U Ted Medin Hellmuth Michaelis Leslie Mikesell, American Farm Bureau Martin Minow, DEC (VAX/VMS) Pawan Mistra, Bellcore Ken Mizialko, IBM, Manassas, VA Ray Moody, Purdue U Bruce J Moore, Allen-Bradley Co, Highland Heights, OH (Atari ST) Steve Morley, Convex Peter Mossel, Columbia University Tony Movshon, NYU Lou Muccioli, Swanson Analysis Systems Dan Murphy Gary Mussar John Nall, FSU Jack Nelson, University of Pittsburgh Jim Noble, Planning Research Corporation (Macintosh) Ian O'Brien, Bath U, UK John Owens Andr@eac() Pirard, University of Liege, Belgium Paul Placeway, Ohio State U (Macintosh & more) Piet W. Plomp, ICCE, Groningen University, Netherlands Ken Poulton, HP Labs Manfred Prange, Oakland U Frank Prindle, NADC Tony Querubin, U of Hawaii Anton Rang Scott Ribe Alan Robiette, Oxford University, UK Michel Robitaille, U of Montreal (Mac) Kai Uwe Rommel, Technische Universit@aum()t M@uum()nchen (OS/2) Larry Rosenman (Amiga) Jay Rouman, U of Michigan Jack Rouse, SAS Institute (Data General and/or Apollo) Stew Rubenstein, Harvard U (VAX/VMS) Bill Schilit, Columbia University Eric Schnoebelen, Convex Benn Schreiber, DEC Dan Schullman, DEC (modems, DIAL command, etc) John Schultz, 3M Steven Schultz, Contel (PDP-11) APPP Scorer, Leeds Polytechnic, UK Gordon Scott, Micro Focus, Newbury UK Gisbert W. Selke, WIdO, Bonn, Germany David Sizeland, U of London Medical School Fridrik Skulason, Iceland Dave Slate Bradley Smith, UCLA Richard S Smith, Cal State Ryan Stanisfer, UNT Bertil Stenstroem, Stockholm University Computer Centre (QZ), Sweden Peter Svanberg, Royal Techn. HS, Sweden Andy Tanenbaum, Vrije U, Amsterdam, Netherlands Markku Toijala, Helsinki U of Technology Rick Troxel, NIH Warren Tucker, Tridom Corp, Mountain Park, GA Dave Tweten, AMES-NAS G Uddeborg, Sweden Walter Underwood, Ford Aerospace Pieter Van Der Linden, Centre Mondial, Paris Ge van Geldorp, Netherlands Fred van Kempen, MINIX User Group, Voorhout, Netherlands Wayne Van Pelt, GE/CRD Mark Vasoll, Oklahoma State U (V7 UNIX) Konstantin Vinogradov, ICSTI, Moscow Paul Vixie, DEC Dimitri Vulis, CUNY Roger Wallace, Raytheon Stephen Walton, Calif State U, Northridge (Amiga) Jamie Watson, Adasoft, Switzerland (RS/6000) Rick Watson, U of Texas (Macintosh) Robert Weiner Lauren Weinstein Joachim Wiesel, U of Karlsruhe, Germany Michael Williams, UCLA Nate Williams, U of Montana David Wilson Patrick Wolfe, Kuck & Associates, Inc. Gregg Wonderly, Oklahoma State U (V7 UNIX) Farrell Woods, Concurrent (formerly Masscomp) Dave Woolley, CAP Communication Systems, London Jack Woolley, SCT Corp Frank Wortner Ken Yap, U of Rochester John Zeeff, Ann Arbor, MI @end @section(Introduction) C-Kermit is a communication software program written in C that provides a full implementation of the Kermit file transfer protocol, plus terminal connection, modem dialing, file management, and a powerful script programming language. An important goal of C-Kermit is transportability to different computers and operating systems. To date, C-Kermit (one release or another) has been adapted to UNIX (most versions), VAX/VMS, Data General AOS/VS, IBM OS/2, the Apple Macintosh, the Commodore Amiga, the Atari ST, Apollo Aegis, OS-9, NCR 9800/VE, and others. C-Kermit offers you several methods of interaction. On UNIX, VAX/VMS, and most other systems, you have access to Kermit's interactive command parser, and you can also invoke Kermit with command line options. On workstations like the Macintosh, there is a mouse-and-window interface with pull-down menus, radio buttons, and so forth. In some cases, you have both. Interactive operation gives you full access to all of C-Kermit's features. Command-line invocation gives you access to a small but useful subset. Command-line operation is described in Section @ref(-cmdlin). The main part of document concentrates on the general features of C-Kermit. Sections specific to certain systems -- UNIX, VAX/VMS, OS/2, the Amiga, OS-9 -- appear at the end. Material about some of the implementations remains to be added. Macintosh Kermit will be documented in a separate publication. PLEASE NOTE: This manual describes a full-featured version of C-Kermit. However, some computers do not have address spaces (or C compilers, or linkers) capable of supporting all Kermit's features, so some features might be missing from your version. See the file @q for details. @section(Kermit Software for Other Computers) Kermit software is available from Columbia University for almost every known computer and operating system, written in a wide variety languages. For a catalog of Kermit software and ordering information, write to: @begin Kermit Distribution Columbia University Center for Computing Activities 612 West 115th Street New York, NY 10025 USA @end or call: @begin (USA) (212) 854-3703 @end MS-DOS Kermit for the IBM PC, PS/2, and compatibles is also available in bookstores, computer stores, and from the publisher: @begin Christine M. Gianone, @i"Using MS-DOS Kermit", Second Edition, Digital Press, Bedford, MA, 1991, 345 pages. Packaged with MS-DOS Kermit for the IBM PC, PS/2, and compatibles on a 5.25-inch diskette. @begin Order Number: EY-H893E-DP Digital Press ISBN: 1-55558-082-3 Prentice Hall ISBN: 0-13-952276-X Internation Edition Order Number: EY-H893E-DI International Prentice Hall ISBN: 0-13-953043-6 @end US single-copy price: $34.95; quantity discounts available. Available in computer bookstores or directly from Digital Press. In the USA, call Digital Press toll-free 1-800-344-4825 to order; major credit cards accepted. Overseas, order through your bookstore or your local Digital Equipment Corporation branch. @end @begin@end A German-language edition is also available: @begin Christine M. Gianone, @i"MS-DOS Kermit, Das universelle Kommunikationsprogramm", Verlag Heinz Heise, Hannover, Germany (1991), 414 pages. Translated by Gisbert W@. Selke. Packaged with version 3.11 of MS-DOS Kermit for the IBM PC, PS/2, and compatibles on a 5.25-inch diskette, including German language help files. ISBN 3-88229-006-4 @end @section(Interactive Operation) C-Kermit's interactive command prompt is "@q(C-Kermit>)". In response to this prompt, you can type any valid interactive C-Kermit command. C-Kermit executes the command and then prompts you for another command. The process continues until you instruct the program to terminate. Commands begin with a keyword, normally an English verb, such as "send". You may omit trailing characters from any keyword, as long as you specify sufficient characters to distinguish it from any other keyword valid in that field. Certain commonly-@|used keywords (such as "send", "receive", "connect") also have special non-@|unique abbreviations ("s" for "send", "r" for "receive", "c" for "connect"). Command keywords can be entered in either upper or lower case, or any combination. This manual shows command keywords in uppercase for clarity. Certain characters have special functions while you are typing interactive commands: @Begin(Description,leftmargin +8,indent -4) @q(?)@\Question mark, typed at any point in a command, will produce a message explaining what is possible or expected at that point. Depending on the context, the message may be a brief phrase, a menu of keywords, or a list of files. Use "?" liberally to feel your way through Kermit's commands. @q(ESC)@\(The Escape or Altmode key) -- Request completion of the current keyword or filename, or insertion of a default value. The result will be a beep if the requested operation fails. @q(TAB)@\(The horizontal Tab key) -- Same as ESC. @q(DEL)@\(The Delete or Rubout key) -- Delete the previous character from the command. You may also use BS (Backspace, Control-H) for this function. @q(^W)@\(Control-W) -- Erase the rightmost word from the command line. @q(^U)@\(Control-U) -- Erase the entire command. @q(^R)@\(Control-R) -- Redisplay the current command. @q(^C)@\(Control-C) -- Interrupt a command. @q(SP)@\(Space) -- Delimits fields (keywords, filenames, numbers) within a command. @q(CR)@\(Carriage Return) -- Enters the command for execution. LF (Linefeed) or FF (formfeed) may also be used for this purpose. @q(\)@\(Backslash) -- Enter any of the above characters into the command literally. To enter a backslash, type two backslashes in a row (@q[\\]). A backslash at the end of a command line causes the next line to be treated as a continuation line; this is useful for readability in command files. Backslash is also used to introduce special characters, variable names, and functions. These are explained in Section @ref(-bkslash). @q(^Z)@\(Control-Z) -- On systems (like Berkeley UNIX, Ultrix) with job control, Control-Z is supposed to suspend Kermit, i.e. put it into the @index @i in such a way that it can be brought back into the foreground (e.g. with an '@q' shell command) with all its settings intact. @End(Description) You may type the editing characters (@q[DEL], @q[^W], etc) repeatedly, to delete all the way back to the prompt. No action will be performed until the command is entered by typing carriage return, linefeed, or formfeed. If you make any mistakes, you will receive an informative error message and a new prompt -- make liberal use of `@q[?]' and ESC to feel your way through the commands. One important command is "help" -- you should use it the first time you run C-Kermit. Comments may be entered as entire commands, or may appear at the end of any command. Comments are introduced by semicolon (@q[;]) or pound sign (@q[#]). Interactive C-Kermit accepts commands from files as well as from the keyboard. When you start C-Kermit, the program looks for a special file, the @i in your home or current directory (first it looks in the home directory, then in the current one) and executes any commands it finds there. These commands must be in interactive format, not command-@|line format. The name of the initialization file is @q<.kermrc> in UNIX and OS-9, and @q in most other operating systems. Here is a brief list of C-Kermit interactive commands: @begin(format,spread 0) @tabclear()@tabset(1.5inches,2.0inches,2.5inches) @>@q<;>@\ Introduce a full-line or trailing comment (also @q<#>). @>@q@\ Execute a system command or enter system command interpreter. @>@q<@@>@\ Same as @q. @>ASK@\ Prompt the user, store user's reply in a variable. @>ASKQ@\ Like ASK, but, but doesn't echo (useful for passwords). @>ASSIGN@\ Assign an evaluated string to a variable or macro. @>BUG@\ Instructions for reporting bugs. @>BYE@\ Terminate and log out a remote Kermit server. @>CD@\ Change Working Directory (also, CWD). @>CLEAR@\ Clear communication device input buffer. @>CLOSE@\ Close a log or other local file. @>COMMENT@\ Introduce a full-line comment. @>CONNECT@\ Establish a terminal connection to a remote computer. @>DECLARE@\ Declare an array. @>DECREMENT@\ Subtract one (or other number) from a variable. @>DEFINE@\ Define a variable or macro. @>DELETE@\ Delete a file or files. @>DIAL@\ Dial a telephone number. @>DIRECTORY@\ Display a directory listing. @>DISABLE@\ Disallow access to selected features during server operation. @>DO@\ Execute a macro. @>ECHO@\ Display text on the screen. @>ELSE@\ ELSE-part of an IF command. @>ENABLE@\ Allow access to selected features during server operation. @>END@\ A command file or macro. @>EXIT@\ Exit from the program, closing all open files and devices. @>FINISH@\ Instruct a remote Kermit server to exit, but not log out. @>FOR@\ Execute commands repeatedly in a counted loop. @>GET@\ Get files from a remote Kermit server. @>GOTO@\ Go to a labeled command in a command file or macro. @>HANGUP@\ Hang up the phone or network connection. @>HELP@\ Display a help message for a given command. @>IF@\ Conditionally execute the following command. @>INCREMENT@\ Add one (or other number) to a variable. @>INPUT@\ Match characters from another computer against a given text. @>LOG@\ Open a log file -- debugging, packet, session, transaction. @>MAIL@\ Send a file as electronic mail to a specified address. @>MSEND@\ Multiple SEND -- send a list of files. @>OPEN@\ Open a local file for reading or writing. @>OUTPUT@\ Send text to another computer. @>PAD@\ (X.25 version only) Give X.25 PAD commands. @>PAUSE@\ Do nothing for a given number of seconds. @>PRINT@\ Print a local file on a local printer. @>PUSH@\ Invoke host system interactive command interpreter. @>PWD@\ Display current working device/directory. @>QUIT@\ Same as EXIT. @>READ@\ Read a line from a local file. @>RECEIVE@\ Passively wait for files to arrive. @>REDIAL@\ Redial the most recently dialed phone number. @>REINPUT@\ Reexamine text previously received from another computer. @>REMOTE@\ Issue file management commands to a remote Kermit server. @>RENAME@\ Change the name of a file. @>RETURN@\ Return from a user-defined function. @>RUN@\ Run a program or system command. @>SCRIPT@\ Execute a UUCP-style login script. @>SEND@\ Send files. @>SERVER@\ Begin server operation. @>SET@\ Set various parameters. @>SHOW@\ Display values of SET parameters. @>SPACE@\ Display current disk space usage. @>STATISTICS@\ Display statistics about most recent transaction. @>STOP@\ Stop executing macro or command file and return to the prompt. @>SUSPEND@\ Put the Kermit program in the backgound. @>TAKE@\ Execute commands from a file. @>TELNET@\ Start a TCP/IP TELNET session. @>TRANLATE@\ Translate a file's character set. @>TRANSMIT@\ Upload a file with no error checking. @>TYPE@\ Display a file on the screen. @>VERSION@\ Display the program version number on the screen. @>WAIT@\ Wait for the specified modem signals. @>WHILE@\ Execute commands repeatedly while a condition is true. @>WRITE@\ Write text to a local file. @>XIF@\ Extended IF command. @end(format) On most computers, C-Kermit can be started simply by typing the word "kermit" (followed by carriage return). If no command-line "action options" are included, Kermit will automatically enter interactive prompting mode. Let's begin by looking at a few of C-Kermit's basic interactive commands. Most important of all when you are just beginning are the commands to exit from the program and to get help about it. @subheading(The EXIT and QUIT Commands) Syntax: EXIT [ @i ] Syntax: QUIT [ @i ] These two commands are identical. Both of them do the following: @begin(itemize,spread 0) Hangs up the modem, if the communications line supports data terminal ready. Relinquish access to any communication line assigned via SET LINE, or any network connection obtained via SET HOST. Relinquish any uucp and multiuser locks on the communications line (UNIX only). Close all open logs or other files. Attempt to insure that your terminal is returned to normal. @end(itemize) After exit from C-Kermit, your default directory will be the same as when you started the program. The EXIT command is issued implicitly whenever C-Kermit halts normally, e.g. after a command line invocation, or after certain kinds of interruptions. C-Kermit returns an exit status of zero, except when an error is encountered, where the exit status is set to a nonzero number, depending on the operating system. In UNIX, the exit status is the sum of 1 (if any SEND commands failed), 2 (if any RECEIVE or GET commands failed), and 4 (if any REMOTE commands failed). If you give a number after the EXIT or QUIT command, that number is returned instead. @begin(comment) (this is no longer true???) With background operation (e.g., `@q(&)' at end of invoking command line) driven by scripted interactive commands (redirected standard input and/or take files), any failed interactive command (such as failed dial or script attempt) causes the fatal error exit. @end(comment) @subheading(The HELP Command) Syntax: HELP [ { @i, { SET, REMOTE } @i } ] Brief help messages or menus are always available at interactive command level by typing a question mark at any point. A slightly more verbose form of help is available through the HELP command. The HELP command with no arguments prints a brief summary of how to enter commands and how to get further help. HELP may be followed by one of the top-level C-Kermit command keywords, such as SEND, to request information about a command. Commands such as SET and REMOTE have a further level of help. Thus you may type HELP, HELP SET, or HELP SET PARITY; each will provide a successively more detailed level of help. @subheading(The TAKE Command) Syntax: @q@i The TAKE command instructs C-Kermit to execute commands from the named file. The file may contain any interactive C-Kermit commands, including TAKE; command files may be nested to any reasonable depth, but it may not contain text to be sent to a remote system during the CONNECT command; Use scripts for that (see sections @ref<-macros> and @ref<-scrcmd>). Echoing of commands from TAKE files and handling of errors during TAKE file execution are controlled by the SET TAKE command. Comments may be included in take-command files. Whole-line comments may begin with the word COMMENT. Both trailing and whole-line comments can be introduced using semicolon or pound sign, for example: @begin(example) COMMENT - Commands to dial out out using a Hayes modem... set modem hayes ; Specify the kind of modem set line /dev/ttyh8 ; Select a terminal device set speed 19200 ; Set the speed dial 7654321 ; Dial the number @end(example) TAKE-command files are in exactly the same syntax as interactive commands. If you want to include special characters like question mark or backslash that you would have to quote with backslash when typing interactive commands, you must quote these characters the same way in command files. Long lines may be continued by ending them with a single backslash or a dash: @begin(example) set\ modem\ hayes set- line /dev- /ttyh8 @end(example) Continued lines cannot have trailing comments. If you put a trailing comment after the dash, then Kermit will not treat the line as continued. If you put a dash at the end of a trailing comment, then Kermit will treat the next line as a continuation of the comment. An implicit TAKE command is executed upon your C-Kermit initialization file (@q<.kermrc> in UNIX, @q elsewhere) when C-Kermit starts up, upon either interactive or command-line invocation. The initialization file may contain SET or other commands you want to be in effect at all times. For instance, you might want override the default action when incoming files have the same names as existing files -- in that case, put a command like: @example(set file collision overwrite) Under UNIX, you may also use the shell's redirection mechanism to cause C-Kermit to execute commands from a file: @example(kermit < cmdfile) or you can even pipe commands in from another process: @example(command | kermit) @section(Establishing the Connection) In order to talk about a connection between two computers, we a way to distinguish between them. The @i computer is the one that you are using most directly -- a PC or workstation on your desk, or a timesharing computer that you are using from a terminal. Kermit lets you make a connection from the local computer to a @i computer, for example by dialing it up with a modem. The Kermit program on your local computer is said to be in "local mode" and the Kermit program on the remote computer is in "remote mode". C-Kermit can be used in either @i or @i mode. If you are using C-Kermit in remote mode, you can skip ahead to Section @ref(-filxfer), File Transfer. If you are using C-Kermit in local mode, you must have one of three kinds of connections to the remote computer: @begin(enumerate) A hardwired asynchronous serial connection, either directly to the other computer, or through some kind of terminal server or switching device. A dialup connection, which you establish by dialing with a modem. A network connection. @end(enumerate) To prepare C-Kermit for these connections, several preliminary steps are necessary using the SET command, which is described in Section @ref(-setshow), below: @begin(enumerate) Direct connection: SET LINE @i, SET SPEED @i. Dialup connection, which you establish by dialing with a modem: SET MODEM @i, SET LINE @i, SET SPEED @i, DIAL @i. Network connection: SET HOST @i. If your version of C-Kermit supports more than one type of network, give the appropriate SET NETWORK command before the SET HOST command (the default network type is TCP/IP). (Also see the TELNET command, described below.) @end(enumerate) In addition, you must establish whatever other communication related settings are appropriate for the connection, including PARITY, DUPLEX, FLOW, and HANDSHAKE. Having done all this, you can use the CONNECT command to begin a terminal session with the remote computer, and once connected, you can initiate file transfers. @subheading(The SET LINE Command) Syntax: @q [ @i ] Close any previously open network, terminal, or modem connection. If a device name is given, try to open the device for communication. If no device name is given, revert to the default mode of communication (normally remote mode). @subheading(The SET HOST Command) Syntax: @q [ @i [ @i ] ] Close any previously open network, terminal, or modem connection. If the current network type (see SET NETWORK) is TCP/IP, the @i field can be specified as an IP host name or a numeric IP host address, followed optionally by a TCP service name or port number (the default service is TELNET, TCP port number 23). If the network type is X.25, the @i field is an X.121 address, and there is no service field. If no host name is given, revert to the default mode of communication (normally remote mode). @subheading(The CONNECT Command) The CONNECT command (C is a special abbreviation for CONNECT) links your terminal to another computer as if it were a local terminal to that computer, through the device specified in the most recent SET LINE or SET HOST command, or through the default device if your system is a PC or workstation. All characters you type at your keyboard are sent out the communication line (and if you have SET DUPLEX HALF, also displayed on your screen), and all characters arriving at the communication port are displayed on the screen. Current settings of speed, parity, duplex, and flow-@|control are honored, and the data connection is 7 bits wide unless you have given the command SET TERMINAL BYTESIZE 8. If you have issued a LOG SESSION command, everything you see on your screen will also be recorded to your session log. This provides a way to "capture" files from remote systems that don't have Kermit programs available. To get back to your own system, you must type the "escape character", which is Control-@|Backslash (@q[^\]) unless you have changed it with the SET ESCAPE command, followed by a single-@|character command, such as C for "close connection". Single-@|character commands may be entered in upper or lower case. They include: @begin(description,leftmargin +8,indent -6,spread 0.4) @q@\Return to C-Kermit. If you gave an interactive CONNECT command, return to the C-Kermit prompt. If you gave a -c or -n option on the command line, close the connection and return to the system prompt. @q@\Send a BREAK signal (about 0.275 sec). @q@\Send a Long BREAK signal (about 1.5 sec). @q<0>@\(zero) send a null. @q@\Give a status report about the connection. @q@\Hangup the phone. @q@\Escape to the system command processor "under" Kermit. Exit or logout to return to your CONNECT session. @q@\Suspend Kermit (UNIX only). @q<\nnn>@\A character in backslash-code form. @q[^\]@\Send Control-Backslash itself (whatever you have defined the escape character to be, typed twice in a row sends one copy of it). @end(description) Uppercase and control equivalents for (most of) these letters are also accepted. A space typed after the escape character is ignored. Any other character will produce a beep. The connect command simply displays incoming characters on the screen. It is assumed any screen control sequences sent by the host will be handled by the firmware or emulation software in your terminal or PC@foot(Several C-Kermit implementations include terminal emulators, notably Macintosh and OS/2). It is sometimes useful to see exactly what characters the host is transmitting, rather than having your terminal or emulator interpret them for you. If you give the command SET DEBUG SESSION, then during CONNECT, C-Kermit will display control characters using "uparrow" notation, for example @q<^A> for Control-A, @q<^B> for Control-B, etc, @q<^[> for ESC. 8-bit characters are preceded by a tilde (@q<~>) character. @subheading(The DIAL and REDIAL Commands) Syntax: @q(DIAL )@i(telephone-number)@* Syntax: @q(REDIAL) @index@index@index The DIAL command controls dialout modems; you should have already issued a SET MODEM command to identify the type of modem to be used for dialing, and then SET LINE and SET SPEED commands to identify the terminal device to which the modem is connected, plus any desired SET CARRIER and SET DIAL commands to modify the behavior of the DIAL command itself. In the DIAL command, you supply the phone number and the Kermit program feeds it to the modem in the appropriate format and then interprets dialer return codes and modem signals to inform you whether the call was completed. These actions are based upon built-in knowledge of the control sequences and responses of each make and model of modem that C-Kermit knows about. The telephone-@|number may contain imbedded modem-@|dialer commands appropriate to the selected modem type, such as comma for Hayes pause, or `@q(&)' for Ventel dialtone-@|wait and `@q(%)' for Ventel pause (consult your modem manual for details). The REDIAL command is exactly like the DIAL command, except it uses the phone number you specified in your most recent DIAL command. At the time of this writing, support is included for the following modems: @begin(itemize,spread 0) AT&T 7300 Internal Modem AT&T 2212C, 2224B, 2224CEO, and 2296A switched network modems in AT&T mode AT&T Digital Terminal Data Module (DTDM) Cermetek Info-Mate 212A Concord Condor CDS 220 Courier HST DEC DF03-AC DEC DF100 Series DEC DF200 Series General DataComm 212A/ED Hayes Smartmodem and compatibles IBM/Siemens/Rolm 9751 CBX DCM Microcom AX-9624 Penril Racal Vadic Telebit Trailblazer, T1000, T1600, T2500 US Robotics 212A Ventel @end(itemize) Support for new modems is added to the program from time to time; you can check the current list by typing SET MODEM ?. There are also two "generic" modem types -- DIRECT (i.e. no modem at all, so that no attempt is made to deal with modem signals), and UNKNOWN (which tells C-Kermit to attempt to honor modem signals, but leaves the dialing mechanism unspecified). NONE is a synonym for DIRECT. The device used for dialing out is the one selected in the most recent SET LINE command (or on a workstation, the default line if no SET LINE command was given). On UNIX systems, the DIAL command attempts to lock the terminal device's path and to establish a call on an exclusive basis. If it is desired to dial a call and then return to the shell (such as to do Kermit activities depending on standard in/out redirection), it is necessary to place the dialed call under one device name (say, "@q") and then escape to the shell @i on a linked device which is separate from the dialed line (say, "@q"). This is the same technique used by uucp (to allow locks to be placed separately for dialing and conversing). Because modem dialers have strict requirements to override the carrier-@|detect signal most UNIX implementations expect, the sequence for dialing is more rigid than most other C-Kermit procedures. Example: @begin(example) @ux C-Kermit>@ux ; SET MODEM first! C-Kermit>@ux ; Then SET CARRIER if necessary, C-Kermit>@ux ; Then SET LINE, C-Kermit>@ux ; Then SET SPEED, C-Kermit>@ux ; Then SET DIAL if necessary, C-Kermit>@ux ; and finally, DIAL. Connected! ; If DIAL completes OK, C-Kermit>@ux ; you can CONNECT. @i(logon, do things) @ux<^\c> C-Kermit> ... C-Kermit>@ux ; Disconnect & unlock the line. @end(example) In general, C-Kermit requires that the modem provide the "carrier detect" (CD) signal when a call is in progress, and remove that signal when the call completes or the line drops. If a modem switch setting is available to force CD, it should normally not be in that setting. C-Kermit also requires (on most systems) that the modem track the computer's "data terminal ready" (DTR) signal. If a switch setting is available to simulate DTR asserted within the modem, then it should normally not be in that setting. Otherwise the modem will be unable to hang up at the end of a call or when interrupts are received by Kermit. If you want to interrupt a DIAL command in progress (for instance, because you just realize that you gave it the wrong number), type a Control-C get back to command level. If you are a UNIX user and your "interrupt character" is defined as something besides Ctrl-C, use that instead. PROBLEMS: The DIAL command hangs up the phone (see HANGUP) prior to dialing. Because of the problems described for HANGUP, certain UNIX configurations are unable to use DIAL when it does this. To work around this problem, give the command SET DIAL HANGUP OFF before giving the DIAL command. If DIAL still doesn't work right, start over again but this time give the command SET CARRIER OFF prior to SET LINE. See the command summary for a description of SET DIAL options. You can use SET DIAL to modify the modem initialization string, the timeout period for call completion, and so on. Hayes and Hayes-compatible, as well as Telebit, modem dialing is supported for both word and digit result codes, and C-Kermit will also attempt to adjust its communication speed in case these modems complete a call at a lower speed than it was placed at (if you have a speed-matching modem, you can defeat this action by giving the command SET DIAL SPEED-MATCHING ON before dialing). @subheading(The HANGUP Command) The HANGUP command attempts to hang up the modem on a local-mode dialout connection established by SET LINE, or to hang up the network connection established by SET HOST, in order to break the connection. On terminal devices, Kermit accomplishes the hangup by momentarily turning off the Data Terminal Ready (DTR) RS-232 signal. The means used to drop DTR and bring it back up again are highly dependent on the computer, the version of UNIX, the communication device, the device driver, the modem being used, and even the cable that connects the modem to the communication device. Therefore you might find that this command fails to operate as it should. If the HANGUP command fails to hang up a phone connection, then maybe your modem is configured to ignore DTR. You should make sure your modem is configured to pay attention to the computer's DTR signal. Another possibility is that your cable is giving the modem a constant DTR signal, looped back from its own DSR signal; in that case, replace your cable with a regular straight-through modem cable. If the HANGUP command does indeed hang up the phone connection, but then you can't communicate with the modem any more to establish a new connection, your version of UNIX may have dropped the DTR signal without bringing it back up again properly. To work around this problem, give the SET LINE command (with no device name) to close the current device, and then another SET LINE command specifying the original device to open it again. @subheading(The TELNET Command) Syntax: @q(TELNET) [ @i [ @i ] ] The TELNET command can be used in C-Kermit implementations that support TCP/IP networking. TELNET is simply a shorthand for SET HOST followed by CONNECT. If you give an IP host name (or number), Kermit closes any currently open connection and begins a new one to the given host. If the TCP/IP connection is made successfully, Kermit puts itself into CONNECT mode for terminal emulation. If you give a TELNET command without a hostname, the currently active TCP/IP session (if any) is resumed; if there is no current session, you'll get an error message. The @i can be a TCP port number or service name; the default is 23, the TELNET port. @section(File Transfer) @label(-filxfer) Kermit programs can transfer files correctly and completely, using the Kermit file transfer protocol. A Kermit program must be running on both computers. Here is the normal procedure: @begin(enumerate) Run Kermit on your local computer. Make the appropriate communication settings (such as modem type, line, speed, parity, etc). Establish a connection to the remote computer (DIAL if necessary). CONNECT to the remote computer. Log in to the remote computer if necessary. Start Kermit on the remote computer and tell it to send (or receive) a file (or files). "Escape back" to the local computer. Tell the local computer to receive (or send) a file (or files). @end(enumerate) When transferring files, C-Kermit converts between upper and lower case filenames and between LF and CRLF line terminators automatically, unless told to do otherwise. When binary files must be transferred, the program should be instructed not to perform LF/CRLF conversion (@q[-i] on the command line or SET FILE TYPE BINARY interactively; see below). If C-Kermit is in local mode, the screen is continously updated to show the progress of the file transer. A dot is printed for every four data packets, other packets are shown by type: @begin(description,leftmargin +6, indent -2, spread 0) I@\Exchange Parameter Information R@\Receive Initiation S@\Send Initiatiation A@\Attribute Packet F@\File Header G@\Generic Server Command C@\Remote Host Command N@\Negative Acknowledgement (NAK) E@\Fatal Error T@\Indicates a timeout occurred Q@\Indicates a damaged, undesired, or illegal packet was received @q<%>@\Indicates a packet was retransmitted @end(description) You may type the following interruption commands during file transfer: @begin(description,leftmargin +6,indent -2,spread 0) F@\Interrupt the current File, and go on to the next (if any). X@\Interrupt the entire Batch of files, terminate the operation. R@\Resend the current packet. E@\Error: terminate the current operation immediately and return to prompt. A@\Display a status report for the current operation. @end(description) @i(EMERGENCY EXIT:)@index When running C-Kermit in remote mode, if you have started a protocol operation (sending or receiving a file, server command wait, etc), you can type two Control-C's directly to the UNIX Kermit program ("connect" first if necessary): @display This will cause the program to display, @display<@q[^C^C...]> and return you to the C-Kermit prompt. Before initiating a file transfer, you should be sure that all communication and protocol-related settings are correct. Version 5A of Kermit attempts to make things easier for you in this area in several ways, for example by recognizing file attributes (text or binary, character set, etc) from the other Kermit if it sends them. @indexIf your parity is set to NONE, C-Kermit automatically recognizes parity bits on received packets, and adjusts its parity accordingly. But it's better to set these C-Kermit parameters directly yourself to avoid any confusion that might result from these automatic adjustments. @subheading Syntax: @q@i(fn) [ @i ] Send the file or files denoted by @i(fn) to the other Kermit, which should be running as a server, or which should be given the RECEIVE command. The SEND command may be abbreviated to S, even though S is not a unique abbreviation for a top-level C-Kermit command. Each file is sent under its own name (as described above, or as specified by the 'set file names' command). If the second form of the SEND command is used, i.e@. with @i(fn1) denoting a single file, @i(rfn1) may be specified as a name to send it under. For example: @example[send sows.ear silk.purse] sends the file @q[sows.ear] but tells the other Kermit that its name is @q[silk.purse]. @subheading Syntax: @q@i(fn) [ @i [ @i [ ... ] ] ] The MSEND command also sends one or more files, but unlike the SEND command, it allows you to give a list of files to send, and it does @i allow you to specify an alternate name. The MSEND file specifications are separated by spaces. @index@index Both the SEND and MSEND commands allow you to use wildcard (meta) characters to specify groups of files. Exactly which wildcard characters are available depend on the host operating system and other factors. In VAX/VMS, they are `@q[*]' and `@q[%]'. In UNIX they are `@q[~]', `@q[*]', and `@q[?]'. If `@q[?]' is to be included, it must be prefixed by `@q[\]' to override its normal function of providing help. The `@q[*]' character matches any string, and `@q[?]' (UNIX) or `@q[%]' (VMS) matches any single character. When @i(fn) contains `@q[*]' or `@q[?]' characters, there is a limit to the number of files that can be matched, which varies from system to system. If you get the message "Too many files match" then you'll have to make a more judicious selection. For example, if @i(fn) was of the form: @example(usr/longname/anotherlongname/*) then C-Kermit's string space will fill up rapidly -- try using CD to change your directory to the path in question and reissuing the command. Wildcards do not descend through a directory tree. Only files in the current or specified directory are sent. In UNIX versions of C-Kermit only, `@q[~]' is treated as a meta character if it is the first character in the file specification. If it is followed immediately by a slash, a space, or end of line, then your login directory name is substituted. If it is followed immediately by a username, then that user's login directory name is substituted. (In VAX/VMS, you can use logical names in the file specification for the same purpose.) @b Normally, C-Kermit expands wildcard characters itself by searching through the disk and matching names against the pattern you specify. But Kermit's pattern-matching abilities are limited to the metacharacters listed above. UNIX shells like csh and ksh, on the other hand, offer notations for file groups, like `@q([bcdfhjlns]og)' or `@q(*.{txt,doc})' that Kermit cannot handle on its own. Kermit lets you get at these capabilities with the command: @q The default is KERMIT, meaning Kermit itself expands wildcards in SEND and MSEND, as well as what it receives while in server mode from GET commands. The SHELL option means Kermit calls upon the user's preferred shell (via the SHELL environment variable, or failing that, the user's login shell via getpwuid) to expand them. Advantages of the SHELL method include more flexibility in file selection, consistency with the user's shell, and ability to handle a larger number of files. But there are drawbacks. It's noticably slower. Characters in filenames that are special to the shell (like |, &, `, etc) must be quoted with \ (this is not necessary when Kermit expands). And the same Kermit command (SEND, MSEND, or GET sent to a server) may behave differently depending on what your login shell is. For example, @qq<{aaa,bbb}> is expanded by the csh, but taken literally by sh and ksh; @qq<[a-z]> is expanded by csh and ksh, but taken literally by sh. The expansion is done by passing "echo " concatenated with your filespec to the shell. This assumes that echo is a built-in shell command, or if it's not, then the echo program is in the user's path (risky). "echo" is used rather than "ls -d" because ls says "xxx not found" if xxx does not exist (unfortunately, the csh version of "echo" says "echo: no match" if you give it a string containing metacharacters and no files match, wherease sh and ksh simply echo the string back at you). It doesn't matter much, because C-Kermit checks each word that is returned for its existence as a file (but of course, you could have a file called "echo:", "no", or "match"...). And then what happens if your have a file called "@q<-n>"? ("@q @q<-n>" is a command. Refer to a file called "@q<-n>" in the current directory as "@q<./-n>"). @b @index@index When C-Kermit sends each file, it also sends certain information about the file in an "attribute packet", provided the other Kermit agrees to accept attribute packets. This information includes the size, type (text or binary, determined from the "-i" command-line option or the "set file type" command), creation date, and a code to let the other Kermit know that the file is being sent from a UNIX system. The other Kermit may accept or refuse the file based upon these attributes, for example, if it doesn't have enough disk space to store a file of the specified size. The file type attribute allows C-Kermit, when sending a file, to tell the receiving whether it should be in text or binary mode. Therefore, if the receiving Kermit has this feature, it is not necessay to give it a SET FILE TYPE command to "match modes" with C-Kermit. @i -- C-Kermit sends only from the current or specified directory. It does not traverse directory trees. If the source directory contains subdirectories, they will be skipped. By the same token, C-Kermit does not create directories when receiving files. If you have a need to do this, you can pipe tar through C-Kermit, as shown in the example in section @ref(-cmdlin), or under AT&T System III/V UNIX you can use cpio, or BACKUP under VAX/VMS, etc. @i -- The SEND command skips over "invisible" files that match the file specification; UNIX systems usually treat files whose names start with a dot (like @q(.login), @q(.cshrc), and @q(.kermrc)) as invisible. If you want to send these, include the dot in your filespec, as in: @example(send .*) @subheading Syntax: @q [@i] Passively wait for files to arrive from the other Kermit, which must be given the SEND command -- the RECEIVE command does not work in conjunction with a server (use GET for that). If @i(fn1) is specified, store the first incoming file under that name. The RECEIVE command may be abbreviated to R. @index(Binary Files)@index Incoming file data is normally decoded and stored according to whether C-Kermit is in text or binary mode. But if the other Kermit sends the file-type attribute, this will override C-Kermit's file-type setting on a per-file basis. Therefore, it is possible for another Kermit program to send C-Kermit a mixture of text and binary files, so long as the type of each file is indicated in the Attribute packet. For text files, C-Kermit will perform character-set translation if a known transfer character set is indicated in the Attribute packet (see section on International Characters). C-Kermit also attempts to store the incoming file with the creation date that is specified in the Attribute packet. C-Kermit does not attempt to verify disk space against the announced size of the incoming file. You can control C-Kermit's use of these attributes using the SET ATTRIBUTE command. @subheading(The STATISTICS Command) The STATISTICS command displays information about the most recent Kermit file transfer or other protocol transaction, including file and communication line input and output, timing and efficiency, as well as what encoding options were in effect (such as 8th-bit prefixing, repeat-@|count compression, packet lengths, window size). @subheading(Non-Protocol Data Transfers) It is also possible to transfer files with other computers that do not have a Kermit program available. To send a file to such a computer, use the TRANSMIT command: Syntax: @q @i This command sends the named file without error checking, obeying current settings for file type (text or binary), parity, and duplex. In text mode, send the file a line at a time, with character translations done according to the current file and transfer character sets, using the SET TRANSMIT PROMPT character (linefeed, @q<\10>, by default) as a line turnaround character. That is, send a line from the file, wait until the prompt character comes in response, then send the next line, and so on. If zero (0) is specified for the prompt character, then send the whole file without waiting for any response or echo from the host. Don't try this unless you know that the host can successfully process long continuous bursts of input characters. Each line is terminated by a carriage return, just as you would type it at a terminal. Linefeeds are stripped unless you have given the command SET TRANSMIT LINEFEED ON. The computer to which you are transmitting the file should be prepared to receive it, for instance into a text editor. In binary mode, send all the characters of the file with no modification and no line turnaround handshake (the TRANSMIT PROMPT setting is ignored). Use binary mode only if you know that the computer or device to which you are transmitting the file can receive arbitrary patterns of characters at full speed. If you want to transmit 8-bit data over a 7-bit connection (i.e. PARITY is not NONE), you can use SET TRANSMIT LOCKING-SHIFT ON to have Kermit send SO/SI shifts around your 8-bit characters. The TRANSMIT command can be interrupted by typing Ctrl-C. Also see SET TRANSMIT. The opposite of TRANSMIT is LOG SESSION, which lets you capture files or screen data from remote computers during CONNECT, also without error checking. XMIT may be used as a synonym for TRANSMIT in the TRANSMIT, SET TRANSMIT, and SHOW TRANSMIT commands. @section(Being and Using a Kermit Server) @label(-server) The SERVER command places C-Kermit in "server mode" on the currently selected communication device or network connection. All further commands must arrive as valid Kermit packets from the Kermit on the other end of the line. If you are running C-Kermit on the remote computer, then you should escape back to your local computer after you give C-Kermit the SERVER command, and then issue all further commands to the C-Kermit server from your local Kermit's command prompt. It is also possible to work the other way: your local computer is the Kermit server and the remote computer issues the commands -- this can only work if the remote Kermit is driven by a TAKE command file (which should end with the command FINISH). The C-Kermit server can respond to the following commands from the client: @begin(format,spread 0,above 1,below 1,leftmargin +2) @tabclear()@tabset(2.25inches) @ux@\@ux GET@\ Sends files SEND@\ Receives files MAIL@\ Sends incoming files as e-mail to specified address BYE@\ Attempts to log itself out FINISH@\ Exits to level from which it was invoked REMOTE CD@\ Changes working directory (also, remote cd) REMOTE DIRECTORY@\ Sends directory listing REMOTE DELETE@\ Removes files REMOTE HELP@\ Lists these capabilities REMOTE HOST@\ Executes a UNIX shell command REMOTE KERMIT@\ Sends a Kermit command to a Kermit server REMOTE LOGIN@\ Login to a Kermit server that requires this REMOTE LOGOUT@\ Logout from a Kermit server REMOTE PRINT@\ Receives a file and prints it REMOTE SET@\ Changes its settings REMOTE SPACE@\ Reports about its disk usage REMOTE TYPE@\ Sends files to your screen REMOTE WHO@\ Shows who's logged in @end(format) If the Kermit server is directed at an external line (i.e. it is in "local mode") then the console may be used for other work if you SET FILE DISPLAY OFF and run it in the background; normally the program expects the console to be used to observe file transfers and enter status queries or to interrupt commands. The way to get C-Kermit into background@index operation from interactive command level varies from system to system (e.g. on Berkeley UNIX you would halt the program with @q(^Z) and then use the C-Shell 'bg' command to continue it in the background). The more common method is to invoke the program with the desired command line arguments, including "@q(-q)", and with a terminating "@q(&)". The C-Kermit server will accept a list of files in GET commands sent by the client, similar to the list you can give to the MSEND command, e.g.: @begin MS-Kermit>@ux[get ~joe/new.txt /etc/termcap ../*.c] @end The file specifications are separated by spaces. If you need to include a space in a filename, quote it with a backslash, for example: @begin MS-Kermit>@ux @end If you need to include a backslash, use two of them. When the UNIX Kermit server is given a REMOTE HOST command, it executes it using the shell invoked upon login, e.g. the Bourne shell, the Korn Shell, or the Berkeley C-Shell (or whatever the user has set her SHELL environment variable to be). The server can issue periodic NAK packets. You can control the rate at which this happens via SET SERVER TIMEOUT. Specifiying a value of zero instructs C-Kermit not to do this at all. A nonzero value, n, makes a NAK appear every n seconds during server command wait. This is useful if the client Kermit is not capable of timeouts, and a packet that it sends to the server is lost. The default server timeout is zero. SECURITY. Before putting C-Kermit into server mode, you can give it commands to restrict the types of access it allows to clients. The command is DISABLE. You can turn these accesses back on using the ENABLE command. Here are the items that can be controlled in this way, with the effect of DISABLE noted. CAUTION: If you leave HOST enabled, the client can get around some of these restrictions with REMOTE HOST commands. @begin(description,spread 0) BYE@\Ignore BYE commands from the client, stay in server mode. CD@\Don't let the client change directories, or send files to, or get files from, or delete or type files in, any but the current directory, nor inquire about space in any but the current directory. DELETE@\Don't let the client delete any files. DIRECTORY@\Don't let the client request a directory listing. FINISH@\Ignore FINISH commands from the client, stay in server mode. GET@\Don't let the client GET files. HOST@\Ignore REMOTE HOST commands from the client. SEND@\Don't accept files that the client tries to send. SET@\Refuse REMOTE SET commands from the client. SPACE@\Refuse REMOTE SPACE commands from the client. TYPE@\Refuse REMOTE TYPE commands from the client. WHO@\Refuse REMOTE WHO commands from the client. ALL@\All of the above. @end(description) @subheading(Using a Kermit Server) C-Kermit may itself request services from a remote Kermit server. To send a file to a Kermit server, use the SEND command, just as you would to send a file to a Kermit program that has been given the RECEIVE command. But you cannot use the RECEIVE command to get a file from a Kermit server, because the RECEIVE command just waits passively for a file to arrive, but the server has not been told which file to send. For this, you need the GET command: Syntax:@q< GET >@i @begin(example) @i: GET @i(rfn) @i(fn1) @end(example) The GET command requests a remote Kermit server to send the named file or files, it must be used in place of RECEIVE. Since a remote file specification (or list) might contain spaces, which normally delimit fields of a C-Kermit command, an alternate form of the command is provided to allow the inbound file to be given a new name: type GET alone on a line, and you will be prompted separately for the remote and local file specifications, for example: @Begin(Example) C-Kermit>@ux(get) Remote file specification: @ux(profile exec) Local name to store it under: @ux(profile.exec) @End(Example) If a `@q[?]' is to be included in the remote file specification, you must prefix it with `@q[\]' to suppress its normal function of providing help. If you have started a multiline GET command, you may escape from its lower-@|level prompts by typing a carriage return in response to the prompt, e.g. @Begin(Example) C-Kermit>@ux(get) Remote file specification: @ux(foo) Local name to store it under: @i<(Type a carriage return here)> (cancelled) C-Kermit> @End(Example) After the GET command has been entered, the file transfer proceeds exactly as if you had given a SEND command to the other Kermit and a RECEIVE command to this one. In addition to SEND and GET, the following commands may also be sent from C-Kermit to a Kermit server. If the server does not support a command that you send to it, it will respond with a message like "Unknown server command" or "Unimplemented REMOTE command". @begin(d84) REMOTE CD [@i(directory)]@\Request the server to change its default directory (and/or device) to the one you specify. If none is specified, the server is requested to return to its primary default directory (normally the login directory). REMOTE DELETE @i@\The server is requested to delete the specified file or files. REMOTE DIRECTORY [@i(rfn)]@\The server is requested to send a directory listing of the specifed files. If no files are specified, then the server should send a listing of all the files in the current directory. REMOTE HELP@\The server is requested to send to your screen a list of the commands that you may issue to it from your local Kermit. REMOTE HOST @i(command)@\The server is requested to ask its host operating system to execute the given command. REMOTE KERMIT @i(command)@\The remote server is requested to execute the given command, which is in its own (Kermit program) syntax. REMOTE LOGIN @i(userid) @i(password) [@i(account)]@\If a remote Kermit server has been set up to require to provide a user ID and password before you can gain access to it, use this command to send it the user ID and password. REMOTE LOGOUT@\Remove your access from a remote Kermit server that you have REMOTE LOGIN'ed to. REMOTE PRINT @i(file) [@i(options)]@\The file is sent to the server, which is requested via Attribute packet to print it on its printer using the specified print options. REMOTE SET @i @i@\The server is requested to set the given parameter to the specified value. Use question mark to find out what parameters and values are available. The meanings of these parameters and values are explained in the section on the SET command, below. Perhaps the most useful one is REMOTE SET FILE TYPE { TEXT, BINARY }. REMOTE SPACE [@i(dir)]@\The server is requested to report on available disk space in the specified device and/or directory, or in the current area if none specified. REMOTE TYPE [@i(rfn)]@\The server is requested to send the specified file for display on your screen. REMOTE WHO [@i(user)]@\The server is requested to send a list of the users who are logged in on its computer. If a username is given, information about that user is requested. BYE @i(and) FINISH:@\When connected to a remote Kermit server, these commands cause the remote server to terminate; FINISH returns it to Kermit or system command level (depending on the implementation or how the program was invoked); BYE also requests it to log itself out. @end(d84) @section(International Character Sets) Text files may be written in languages other than English, and in most cases that means that they contain non-ASCII characters such as accented letters, special punctuation marks, etc. Many different character sets have been devised to represent different languages. These character sets are sometimes specific to a particular computer manufacturer, and sometimes they conform to one standard or another. The Kermit file transfer protocol permits Kermit programs to exchange files written in different character sets by translating between each computer's local file character set and a standard set that is used "on the wire". Here are the relevant commands: @begin(d84) SET FILE TYPE TEXT@\Character set translation is not done at all unless the file type is text. SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET @i@\Tell C-Kermit which character set is to be used on the wire, i.e. within the Kermit packets. The choices are TRANSPARENT (no translation, this is the default), ASCII (translate to/from US ASCII), LATIN1 (ISO 8859-1 Latin Alphabet 1), CYRILLIC-ISO (ISO 8859-5 Latin/Cyrillic Alphabet), and JAPANESE-EUC. Synonym: SET XFER CHARACTER-SET. SET FILE CHARACTER-SET @i@\Tell C-Kermit which character set is used in the local file, ASCII, or any of a dozen or so 7-bit national replacement character sets (NRCs) such as ITALIAN, NORWEGIAN, etc, or an 8-bit character set like LATIN1, DEC-Multinational, DG-International, NEXT (for NeXT workstations), CP437 or CP850 (for IBM or Xenix systems), APPLE (for A/UX on the Macintosh); CP866, KOI8-CYRILLIC, CYRILLIC-ISO, and SHORT-KOI for Cyrillic; and JAPANESE-EUC, DEC-KANJI, SHIFT-JIS, and JIS7 for Japanese Kanji. SET LANGUAGE @i@\Enable certain language-specific translations, especially for DUTCH, ICELANDIC, GERMAN, RUSSIAN, and the Scandinavian languages. In particular, SET LANGUAGE RUSSIAN makes Kermit treat ASCII as if it were SHORT-KOI when it is a FILE or TRANSFER character set, and the corresponding TRANSFER or FILE character set is an 8-bit Cyrillic set. TRANSLATE @i @i @i [ @i ]@\Translate the local file @i from the character set @i into the character set @i. Both character sets may be selected from C-Kermit's repertoire of file character sets. The result is stored in @i or (if @i is not specified), displayed on the screen. If LANGUAGE is set to RUSSIAN, ISO Latin-Cyrillic is used as the intermediate standard character set during translation, otherwise ISO Latin Alphabet 1 is used. Does not yet work for Kanji. @end(d84) The SET commands are described in more detail later. When sending a file, C-Kermit translates the file from the specified file character set into the specified transfer character set, and an identifier for the selected transfer character set is included in the file attribute packet, if use of attribute packets has been negotiated and a SET ATTR [CHARACTER-SET] OFF command has not been given. When receiving, C-Kermit translates from the specified transfer character set to the specified file character set or, if a transfer character set is identified in the incoming attribute packet it is used instead. If the file character set is ASCII and special characters are being received, then they are translated by stripping diacritical marks and aiming for the closest possible 1-to-1 translation on a per-character basis. But if a SET LANGUAGE command has been given, special translations can be done. For example if LANGUAGE has been set to GERMAN and the local file character set is ASCII, and a file arrives with a transfer character set of LATIN1, then C-Kermit will translate German umlaut-vowels into the corresponding vowels followed by the letter e, and German double-s into two s's. Similar translations take effect for other languages. If unwanted effects appear because of Kermit's translation, you can disable this feature with SET ATTRIBUTE CHARACTER-SET OFF. When transferring text that contains long runs of 8-bit data over a 7-bit communication channel, efficiency can be improved with the following command: @begin(d84) SET TRANSFER LOCKING-SHIFT { OFF, ON, FORCED }@\Specifies whether locking shifts should be used by Kermit when encoding and decoding packets. A locking shift is a special character, Ctrl-N (Shift-Out, SO), that means that all the following characters, up to the next Ctrl-O (Shift-In, SI), are to have their 8th bits set to 1 upon receipt. For long runs of 8-bit characters, this is more efficient than Kermit's regular "single shift" method of prefixing each 8-bit character by an @q<&>-sign. Synonym: SET XFER LOCKING-SHIFT. The options are: @begin ON@\This is the default setting. If PARITY is not NONE, try to negotiate the use of locking shift protocol with the other Kermit, and use it if the other Kermit agrees. If PARITY is NONE, locking shifts won't be used. OFF@\Don't use locking shifts. FORCED@\Use locking shifts, regardless of the parity setting and negotiations. Automatically disables the use of 8th-bit prefixing (single shifts). For the file sender, this command lets data be sent to the receiver with embedded SO and SI characters, which can be processed properly by many terminals, printers, and other devices. For the file receiver, this command forces the treatment of SO and SI characters in the data as shift commands. @end @end(d84) Locking shifts are most effective for text written in non-Roman alphabets and encoded in standard 8-bit character sets like ISO Latin/Cyrillic, ISO Latin/Arabic, ISO Latin/Hebrew, ISO Latin/Greek, or Japanese EUC. Locking-shift status is displayed by the SHOW and STATISTICS commands. @section(Logging Things) Kermit's actions during terminal connection and file transfer can be logged in several ways, using the LOG command: Syntax: @q@~ [ @i(fn1) [ { APPEND, NEW }=NEW ] ] C-Kermit's progress may be logged in various ways. The LOG command opens a log, the CLOSE command closes it. In addition, all open logs are closed by the EXIT and QUIT commands. A name may be specified for a log file; if the name is omitted, the file is created with a default name as shown below. If the keyword APPEND is included at the end of the command, then if the specified file exists, it is appended to rather than written over; if it does not exist, a new file is created. @begin(d4) LOG DEBUGGING@\This produces a voluminous log of the internal workings of C-Kermit, of use to Kermit developers or maintainers in tracking down suspected bugs in the C-Kermit program. Use of this feature slows down the Kermit protocol and fills up your disk. Default name: @q(debug.log). LOG PACKETS@\This produces a record of all the packets that go in and out of the communication port. This log is of use to Kermit maintainers who are tracking down protocol problems in either C-Kermit or any Kermit that C-Kermit is connected to. Default name: @q(packet.log). LOG SESSION@\This log will contain a copy of everything you see on your screen during the CONNECT command, except for local messages or interaction with local escape commands. Default name: @q(session.log). LOG TRANSACTIONS@\The transaction log is a record of all the files that were sent or received while transaction logging was in effect. It includes time stamps and statistics, filename transformations, and records of any errors that may have occurred. The transaction log allows you to have long unattended file transfer sessions without fear of missing some vital screen message. Default name: @q(transact.log). @end(d4) The CLOSE command closes the named log, e.g. CLOSE DEBUG, CLOSE SESSION. @i Debug and Transaction logs are a compile-time option; C-Kermit may be compiled without these logs, in which case it will run faster, it will take up less space on the disk, but the commands relating to them will not be present. @section(Local File Management) C-Kermit allows the following local file management functions from its interactive command level: @begin(description,leftmargin +4,indent -4) CD [@i]@\ Changes Kermit's working device and/or directory to the one given, or to the user's default directory and/or device if the name is omitted. This command affects only the Kermit process and any processes it may subsequently create. You may use CWD and SET DEFAULT as synonyms for CD. DELETE @i@\Deletes (removes, erases) file @i, which may be the name of a single file or a wildcard specification containing @q<*> and/or @q characters. You may use RM as a synonym for DELETE. DIRECTORY [@i(fn)]@\Displays a listing of the files whose names match @i(fn), which may be the name of a single file or a wildcard specification containing @q<*> and/or @q characters. If no @i is given, C-Kermit lists all files in the current device and/or directory. The format of and information provided in the listing depends on the operating system. You may use LS as a synonym for DIRECTORY. PWD@\(Print Working Directory) Display the current working (default) file device and/or directory. You may use SHOW DEFAULT as a synonym for PWD. PRINT @i [ @i ]@\Print the local file @i on a local printer. Options can be included after the filename, for example, to select a particular printer. The options are in the format of the local system's printing command. RENAME @i @i@\Changes the name of file @i to @i. You may use MV as a synonym for RENAME. SPACE@\Displays information about disk space and/or quota in the current directory and device. TYPE @i@\Display the named file on the screen. May be interrupted with Ctrl-C, and on most systems the display can be stopped and resumed with Ctrl-S and Ctrl-Q, respectively. You may use CAT as a synonym for TYPE. { @q(@@), @q(!), RUN, PUSH }@\@begin(multiple) The @i is executed by your computer's operating system command interpreter (UNIX shell, VMS DCL, etc). If no command is specified, then an interactive session is started; exiting from this session, e.g. by typing Control-D or 'exit' to a UNIX shell, or LOGOUT to VMS DCL, will return you to C-Kermit command level. Use the `@q(!)' command to provide file management or other functions not explicitly provided by C-Kermit commands. @q, @q<@@>, RUN, and PUSH are all synonyms for the same command. @comment{ If you include the "@q(>)" character before the command, then the command's output will not be displayed on your screen, but rather it will be sent out the communication device selected in the most recent SET LINE or SET HOST command. } @end(multiple) @end(description) @section(The SET and SHOW Commands) @label(-setshow) Since Kermit is designed to allow diverse computers to communicate, it is often necessary to issue special instructions to allow Kermit to adapt to peculiarities of the other computer or the communication path. These instructions are accomplished by the SET command. The following parameters may be SET: @begin(format,spread 0) @tabclear()@tabset(1.5inches,2.0inches,2.5inches) @>ATTRIBUTES@\ Turn Attribute packet processing on or off. @>BACKGROUND@\ Force foreground or background mode. @>BLOCK-CHECK@\ Level of packet error detection. @>BUFFERS@\ Send and receive packet buffer sizes. @>CARRIER@\ Treatment of carrier on terminal connections. @>CASE@\ Controls treatment of alphabetic case. @>COMMAND@\ Character set size for commands. @>COUNT@\ For counted loops. @>DEBUG@\ Log or display debugging information. @>DEFAULT@\ Default directory. @>DELAY@\ How long to wait before sending first packet. @>DIAL@\ Parameters for DIAL command. @>DUPLEX@\ Specify which side echoes during CONNECT. @>ESCAPE@\ Prefix for "escape commands" during CONNECT. @>FILE@\ Set various file parameters. @>FLOW-CONTROL@\ Communication line full-duplex flow control. @>HANDSHAKE@\ Communication line half-duplex turnaround character. @>HOST@\ Specify network host name. @>INCOMPLETE@\ Disposition for incompletely received files. @>INPUT@\ Control behavior of INPUT command. @>LANGUAGE@\ Enable language-specific character-set translations. @>LINE@\ Communication line device name. @>MACRO@\ Control aspects of macro execution. @>MODEM-DIALER@\ Type of modem-dialer on communication line. @>PAD@\ (X.25 systems only) X.3 PAD parameters. @>PARITY@\ Communication line character parity. @>PROMPT@\ The C-Kermit program's interactive command prompt. @>RECEIVE@\ Parameters for inbound packets. @>RETRY@\ Packet retransmission limit. @>SCRIPT@\ Parameters for the SCRIPT command. @>SEND@\ Parameters for outbound packets. @>SERVER@\ Parameters for server operation. @>SESSION-LOG@\ (UNIX only) Session log file type, text or binary. @>SPEED@\ Communication line speed. @>SUSPEND@\ Enable/Disable SUSPEND. @>TAKE@\ Control aspects of TAKE file execution. @>TERMINAL@\ Terminal parameters. @>TRANSFER@\ File transfer parameters. @>TRANSMIT@\ Control aspects of TRANSMIT command execution. @>UNKNOWN@\ Specify handling of unknown character sets. @>WINDOW@\ File transfer packet window size. @>WILDCARD@\ (UNIX only) Kermit vs shell wildcard expansion. @>X.25@\ (X.25 systems only) X.25 call parameters @end(format) The SHOW command may be used to display current settings. Here is a summary of settings available in C-Kermit, listed alphabetically. @begin(d4) @index SET ATTRIBUTES@\ Tells C-Kermit whether to exchange file attribute (A) packets@index, or whether to include specified attributes within the A packets it sends, or whether to pay attention to specific attributes in A packets it receives. When the use of A packets has been negotiated, C-Kermit enables and uses the ones listed below. When sending files, C-Kermit responds to an Attribute refusal from the other computer by not sending the specified file. For example, if C-Kermit announces in the A packet that the file is 100K long, the other Kermit could refuse the file because of insufficient disk space, and then C-Kermit would not send it. @begin(d4) SET ATTRIBUTE CHARACTER-SET { ON, OFF }@\Turn the character-set attribute ON or OFF. If ON, C-Kermit includes a code for the transfer character set in the A packet when sending a file, and when receiving a file, C-Kermit will translate from the character set (if any) specified in the incoming A packet into the current file character set (see SET FILE), if the transfer character set is known to C-Kermit (see SET UNKNOWN). SET ATTRIBUTE DATE { ON, OFF }@\If ON, C-Kermit includes the file's creation date in the A packet when sending a file, and stores incoming files with the creation dates (if any) given in the incoming A packets. Beware: on some computers, incremental backups might skip over files with creation dates older than the most recent backup. SET ATTRIBUTE DISPOSITION { ON, OFF }@\The MAIL and REMOTE PRINT commands work by setting "dispositions" of Mail and Print in the A packet when sending a file. SET ATTR DISP OFF will cause C-Kermit to ignore this and store such files on disk rather than mailing or printing them. SET ATTRIBUTE LENGTH { ON, OFF }@\When sending files, C-Kermit puts their length in the A packet, so the receiving system has an opportunity to check and/or allocate disk space in advance, and to refuse the file if there is not enough disk space. If you believe that files are being unjustly refused on the basis of length, you can SET ATTR LENGTH OFF. When receiving files, C-Kermit presently ignores the length announced in the A packet. SET ATTRIBUTE OS-SPECIFIC { ON, OFF }@\Certain versions of Kermit convey operating-system specific file information in the A packet, which is primarily useful when transferring files between like systems, such as VMS to VMS. If you find this feature is interfering with successful file transfer, SET ATTR OS OFF. SET ATTRIBUTE SYSTEM-ID { ON, OFF }@\The A packet also includes a code identifying the file's operating system of origin, so that the receiver of the file can decide whether to pay attention to the OS-SPECIFIC attribute. Use SET ATTR SYS OFF to disable this feature. SET ATTRIBUTES ALL { ON, OFF }@\You can turn all the above off using SET ATTR ALL OFF, and back on using SET ATTR ALL ON. SET ATTRIBUTES { ON, OFF }@\This command turns the attribute mechanism itself on or off, without disturbing the settings of the individual attributes. It is on by default. @end(d4) SET BACKGROUND { OFF, ON }@\Use SET BACKGROUND off to make your prompts and messages appear in case they have disappeared because Kermit thinks it is running in the background (for example, if you are running it through an output filter, as in "kermit | vt100"). You can accomplish the same effect using the @q<-z> option on the command line. SET BLOCK-CHECK {1, 2, 3}@\ Determines the level of per-packet error detection. "1" is a single-@|character 6-bit checksum, folded to include the values of all bits from each character. "2" is a 2-character, 12-bit checksum. "3" is a 3-character, 16-bit cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The higher the block check, the better the error detection and correction and the higher the resulting overhead. Type 1 is most commonly used; it is supported by all Kermit implementations, and it has proven adequate in most circumstances. Types 2 or 3 should be used when transferring 8-bit data or when using long packets. SET BUFFERS @i @i@\Allows you to change the total buffer space used for sending packets (@i) and receiving packets (@i), if Kermit has been configured to allow dynamic buffer allocation. The bigger you make them, the longer your packets can be, and the more window slots you can use. To see the default values for your version of Kermit, type SHOW PROTOCOL. SET CARRIER {AUTO, ON [@i], OFF}@\Specifies C-Kermit's treatment of the Carrier (CD, DCD, or RLSD) RS-232 signal on terminal device connections obtained via SET LINE: @begin(d4) SET CARRIER ON@\Means to require carrier at all times; SET LINE will not return until carrier appears (handy for setting Kermit up to wait for a call to come in), and a fatal error will occur if carrier disappears during CONNECT or file transfer. A nice side effect is that when you log out from the remote computer, you will be put back at C-Kermit prompt level automatically if the remote system drops carrier properly. If you want to set a time limit on how long SET LINE will wait for carrier, you can include an optional number after SET CARRIER ON to specify the number of seconds to wait before timing out and returning to the prompt, for example SET CARRIER ON 30. SET CARRIER OFF means to ignore carrier at all times. Useful for direct, nonmodem connections, or misbehaving modem connections. Should only be used when necessary, because it takes away the ability of Kermit to automatically detect a broken phone connection. SET CARRIER AUTO means to require carrier during CONNECT but not at other times. AUTO is the default. SET CARRIER ON does not affect the DIAL command. @end(d4) SET CASE { ON, OFF }@\Tells C-Kermit whether to pay attention to or ignore alphabetic case in string matching operations, including INPUT and IF. Default is OFF, i.e. ignore case. SET COMMAND BYTESIZE { 7, 8 }@\Normally, C-Kermit's command processor strips off the 8th bit of any character you type, in case your data connection to C-Kermit has parity. If there is no parity and you want to use an 8-bit international character set in your commands (for example, in the ECHO command, or in filenames), use SET COMMAND BYTESIZE 8. The command also applies to the connection between your terminal (if any) and C-Kermit during terminal emulation (CONNECT), as opposed to the connection between C-Kermit and the remote host (see SET TERMINAL BYTESIZE). SET COUNT @i@\For use with counted loops. See the section on script language programming. SET DEFAULT @i@\Change default directory. Equivalent to CD. SET DIAL DISPLAY { ON, OFF }@\Show dialing activity on screen. SET DIAL HANGUP { ON, OFF }@\Normally, the DIAL command will attempt to hang up the phone before dialing a new call. This is done by momentarily dropping the Data Terminal Ready (DTR) signal on the currently selected terminal device. Unfortunately, the method for doing this is ill-defined in some versions of UNIX, and in some cases DTR goes down and stays down, which can prevent all further communication between the computer and the modem. If you find that the DIAL command does not work for you at all, try giving the command SET DIAL HANGUP OFF before giving the DIAL command. This will prevent DIAL from hanging up the phone before dialing the new call. SET DIAL INIT-STRING @i@\Replace Kermit's built-in initialization string with @i, which may contain backslash codes to represent control characters. SET DIAL MNP-ENABLE { ON, OFF }@\Enable or disable MNP protocol negotiations by the modem. Normally off. This command presently applies only to Telebit modems. SET DIAL KERMIT-SPOOF { OFF, ON }@\Enable modem's "Kermit spoof" if it has one. SET DIAL SPEED-MATCHING { OFF, ON }@\Tells whether the modem's interface speed is locked. Default is OFF, meaning the modem changes its interface speed to match the connection speed, for example if you place a call at 2400 bps and it is answered at 1200 bps. Use ON if your modem is configured to do speed matching. SET DIAL TIMEOUT @i@\Seconds to wait for a response from the modem when dialing before giving up and declaring that the call could not be completed. If you don't give this command, Kermit calculates its own dial timeout based on the modem type, length of the phone number, and transmission speed. If that interval isn't long enough, use this command to specify a longer one. SET DEBUG { ON, OFF, SESSION }@\SET DEBUG ON is equivalent to LOG DEBUG. SET DEBUG SESSION means to display incoming control and 8-bit characters on the screen using special notation (see CONNECT). SET DEBUG OFF turns off all debugging. SET DELAY @i(n)@\How many seconds to wait before sending the first packet after a SEND command. Used in remote mode to give you time to escape back to your local Kermit and issue a RECEIVE command before the first Kermit packet appears. Normally 5 seconds. SET DUPLEX {FULL, HALF}@\For use during CONNECT. Specifies which side is doing the echoing; FULL means the other side, HALF means C-Kermit must echo your keystrokes itself. Normally FULL. Use half when communicating with IBM mainframes over linemode connections, and on similar half-duplex or local-echo connections. Synonym: SET LOCAL-ECHO {OFF, ON}. SET ESCAPE-CHARACTER @i(cc)@\For use during CONNECT to get C-Kermit's attention. The escape character acts as a prefix to an escape command, for instance to close the connection and return to C-Kermit or UNIX command level. The normal escape character is Control-Backslash (ASCII 28). See CONNECT. SET FILE @i @i@\ Establish file-related parameters: @begin(d4) SET FILE BYTESIZE { 7, 8 }@\Normally 8. If 7, strip the 8th bit from file data during file transfer. SET FILE CHARACTER-SET @i@\tells the encoding of the local file, ASCII by default. The names DUTCH, GERMAN, FRENCH, etc, refer to 7-bit ASCII-based national replacement character (NRC) sets. CP866, CYRILLIC-ISO, and KOI8-CYRILLIC refer to sets used in the Soviet Union and other countries that use the Cyrillic alphabet. Latin-1 is the 8-bit ISO 8859 Latin Alphabet 1. JAPANESE-EUC, DEC-KANJI, JIS7, and SHIFT-JIS are Japanese Kanji sets. Type SET FILE CHAR ? for a complete list. When receiving files, C-Kermit translates from the transfer character set specified in the most recent SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET command or else the one announced in the Attribute packet (if any) into the file character set. When sending files, C-Kermit translates from the current file character set into the current transfer character set. SET FILE COLLISION @i@\Tells what to do when a file arrives that has the same name as an existing file. The actions are: @begin(d4) BACKUP@\(default) Rename the old file to a new, unique name and store the incoming file under the name it arrived with. The "new unique" name is simply a new generation on VAX/VMS. In UNIX, a "generation number" appended to the filename, separated by a tilde, as in @q@foot{The new name for the arriving file is of the form @q(foo.~)@i(n)@q(~), where foo is the name they share and @i(n) is a "generation number"; if @i(foo) exists, then the new file will be called @q(foo.~1~). If @q(foo) and @q(foo.~1~) exist, the new file will be @q(foo.~2~), and so on. If the new name would be longer than the maximum length for a filename, then characters are deleted from the end first, for instance, @q(thelongestname) on a system with a limit of 14 characters would become @q(thelonges.~1~).} @begin(quotation) WARNING: UNIX C-Kermit presently offers no method of automatically limiting the number of versions of a file that can be created, so if too many of them pile up, you'll have to delete the ones you don't need by hand. Or, because the version number syntax is compatible with GNU EMACS backup files, you can use EMACS to do this for you. @end(quotation) In OS/2, Kermit constructs names of the form @q(FZZ)@i(n)@q(.BAR), where @q(FZZ.BAR) is the name they share and @i(n) is a "generation number"; if @q(FZZ.BAR) exists, then the new file will be called @q(FZZ00001.BAR). If @q(FZZ.BAR) and @q(FZZ00001.BAR) exist, the new file will be @q(FZZ00002.BAR), and so on. If the common name were more than 6 characters long (eg @q(GOODDATA.DAT)), then the new name for the arriving file would be @q(GOODD001.DAT) and so on. OVERWRITE@\Overwrite (replace) the existing file. The existing file is gone, destroyed. Even if the file transfer fails or the incoming file is refused. Use with caution. APPEND@\Append the incoming file to the end of the existing file. This option is useful for adding information to a log file, but it should be used with caution to avoid, for example, joining two files of different types (like text and binary). DISCARD@\Refuse and/or discard the incoming file. This option is handy for resuming multi-file transmissions that were broken. Only those files that were not successfully transferred before will be accepted. RENAME@\Give the incoming file a unique name, like the BACKUP option, except that the incoming file gets the new name, rather than the existing file. UPDATE@\Accept the incoming file only if it is newer than the existing file. This feature depends on the creation date field in the attribute packet. @end(d4) SET FILE DISPLAY { ON, OFF }@\Normally ON; when in local mode, display progress of file transfers on the screen (stdout), and watch the keyboard for interruptions. If OFF (-q on command line) none of this is done, and the file transfer may proceed in the background oblivious to any other work concurrently done at the keyboard. SET FILE NAMES {CONVERTED, LITERAL}@\Normally CONVERTED, which means that outbound filenames have device, directory, and/or path specifications stripped, lowercase letters raised to upper, tildes and extra periods changed to X's, and an X inserted in front of any name that starts with period. In VMS, the generation number is also stripped. For UNIX only, incoming filenames have uppercase letters lowered. LITERAL means that none of these conversions are done; therefore, any directory path appearing in a received file specification must exist and be write-accessible. When literal naming is being used, the sender should not use path names in the file specification unless the same path exists on the target system and is writable. SET FILE RECORD-LENGTH @i@\Tells the record length for fixed-format files, or the maximum record length for variable-format files, on systems like VAX/VMS where record-length is a meaningful concept. SET FILE TYPE {BINARY, TEXT}@\The file type is normally text, which means that conversion is done between the local computer's record format and Kermit's standard transfer format, for example between UNIX newline characters and Kermit's carriage-@|return/@|linefeed sequences. BINARY means to transmit file contents without conversion. Binary (`@q(-i)' in command line notation) is necessary for binary files, and desirable in all file transfers between like systems to cut down on overhead. For VAX/VMS, these are the file type options: SET FILE TYPE TEXT@\Regular Text mode. Applies to incoming files only. When SENDing files, C-Kermit determines their type automatically. SET FILE TYPE BINARY [ { FIXED, UNDEFINED } ]@\Applies to incoming files only. Binary mode: incoming files are stored with no translation or conversion. The default record format is FIXED, but you can specify UNDEFINED too. SET FILE TYPE IMAGE@\This one applies to both incoming and outbound files. For incoming files, it's just like BINARY FIXED. For outbound files, it means just send the blocks of the file as they are stored on the disk, and ignore the file's RMS attributes. SET FILE TYPE BLOCK is a synonym (for compatibility with Kermit-32). SET FILE WARNING { ON, OFF }@\SET FILE WARNING is an old command, somewhat misnamed. SET FILE COLLISION (above) should be used instead. SET FILE WARNING ON is equivalent to SET FILE COLLISION RENAME and SET FILE WARNING OFF is equivalent to SET FILE COLLISION OVERWRITE. @end(d4) @begin SET FLOW-CONTROL {DTR/CD, NONE, RTS/CTS, XON/XOFF}@\Normally XON/XOFF for full duplex flow control. Should be set to NONE if the other system cannot do Xon/Xoff flow control, or if you have issued a SET HANDSHAKE command. If set to XON/XOFF, then HANDSHAKE should be set to NONE. This setting applies during both terminal connection and file transfer. @i This command may have no effect on certain UNIX systems, where Kermit puts the communication line into "rawmode" and rawmode precludes flow control. The DTR/CD and RTS/CTS options are two kinds of "hardware flow control", using special wires (other than the data wires) in the connector. These forms of flow control (especially RTS/CTS) are especially useful with high-speed modems and similar devices. But these options are only available in those versions of C-Kermit whose underlying operating system supports them. Certain versions of UNIX, such as that on the NeXT, provide RTS/CTS flow control in a different way, namely in the device driver. For example, /dev/cua is the first dialout port on the NeXT without RTS/CTS flow control, and /dev/cufa is the same port, but with built-in RTS/CTS flow control. @end SET HANDSHAKE {XON, XOFF, CR, LF, BELL, ESC, NONE}@\Normally NONE. Otherwise, half-duplex communication line turnaround handshaking is done during file transfer, which means C-Kermit will not reply to a packet until it has received the indicated handshake character or has timed out waiting for it; the handshake setting applies only during file transfer. If you SET HANDSHAKE to other than NONE, then FLOW should be set to NONE. SET HOST @i@\For communicating over a network rather than a terminal device. Presently supported only for Berkeley-based or other UNIX implementations using the socket interface to a TCP/IP network, for VAX/VMS with the TGV MultiNet TCP/IP package, and for SunLink X.25. For TCP/IP networks, the @i is the hostname or IP host number of a host on the network, optionally followed by a colon and an IP service number. By default, C-Kermit connects to the telnet (virtual terminal server) socket on TCP/IP connections. For X.25 networks, the @i is the X.121 address. SET INCOMPLETE {DISCARD, KEEP}@\Disposition for incompletely received files. If an incoming file is interrupted or an error occurs during transfer, the part that was received so far is normally discarded. If you SET INCOMPLETE KEEP then partial files will be kept. SET INPUT {CASE, ECHO, TIMEOUT-ACTION}@\Controls the behavior of the INPUT command. See the section on script programming. SET KEY @i [ @i ]@\Key mapping for CONNECT mode. Tell Kermit that when you press the key whose code is @i during CONNECT mode, it should substitute the @i in its place. The string is entered in the native character set of your computer, or you can use backslash codes. The characters are subject to the same translation and shifting rules as the characters you would enter manually at the keyboard during CONNECT mode. The code @i must be a number between 0 and 255 (higher numbers are possible on some computers, like OS/2, if Kermit knows how to read your computer's keyboard scan codes). A key mapping for code @i applies to @i keys that produce this code, for example SET KEY \9 \27 assigns the code 27 (ESC) to the TAB key and to the CTRL-I key. To find out a key's code, enter the SHOW KEY command, then press the key or key combination. Entering the SET KEY for key @i without specifying a @i results in removing any previous key mapping for key @i, i.e. @i sends itself. Key mappings do not apply to escape-character arguments. If the escape character appears in a SET KEY @i, it is treated as an ordinary data character, but if a key definition is exactly one character long, and that character is the escape character, it is treated as the escape character. SET LANGUAGE {ICELANDIC, GERMAN, NORWEGIAN, RUSSIAN, ...}@\For use with international text file transfer. If you tell Kermit what language a text file is written in, then Kermit might be able to apply certain transliteration tricks when translating between the file character set and the transfer character set. See the section on international character sets. SET LINE [@i]@\ @begin The device name for the communication line to be used for file transfer and terminal connection, e.g. @q(/dev/ttyi3) on a UNIX system or @q on a VAX/VMS computer. If you specify a device name, Kermit will be in @i, and you should remember to issue any other necessary SET commands, such as SET SPEED (on UNIX, at least, the SET SPEED command is not strictly necessary -- Kermit will use the line's current speed, but you should use SET SPEED anyway, so that you be sure that speed you desire is actually being used). If you omit the device name, Kermit will revert to its default mode of operation. If you specify the default device name (@q(/dev/tty) in UNIX, @q in VMS), Kermit will enter remote mode (useful when logged in through the "back port" of a system normally used as a local-mode workstation). Whenever you give a SET LINE command, C-Kermit closes any currently open communication device before attempting to open the new one. Therefore SET LINE is also useful for closing and hanging up a dialed connection. When UNIX Kermit enters local mode, it attempts to synchronize with other programs (like uucp) that use external communication lines so as to prevent two programs using the same line at once; before attempting to lock the specified line, it will close and unlock any external line that was previously in use. If your system does not allow you to have write access to the uucp lock directory, then you will receive a message like "Sorry, access to lock denied." In this case, you must ask your system administrator to ensure that uucp lockfiles are set up correctly and Kermit is installed correctly. If Kermit were to use the external line without proper coordination with uucp (and even other copies of Kermit), then two or more users could find themselves using the same line at the same time, which would prevent all useful communication. If you SET LINE to a communication port that has a modem attached, and you have SET CARRIER ON, then the SET LINE command will not return until carrier appears on the device. This is useful for setting up a Kermit program that other people can dial in to. You can control the amount of time Kermit will wait for carrier using SET CARRIER ON @i, where n is the number of seconds to wait for a connection before timing out. You can also interrupt a blocked SET LINE command by typing Ctrl-C. @end SET MACRO { ECHO, ERROR } { ON, OFF }@\Tells whether the individual commands that comprise a macro should be echoed on the screen during macro execution (normally they are not), and whether an error during macro execution should terminate the macro immediately (normally it does not). See the section on script programming. SET MODEM-DIALER @i@\The type of modem @index dialer on the communication line; the @i identifies the modem type: DIRECT, HAYES, RACALVADIC, VENTEL, etc. "Direct" indicates either there is no dialout modem, or that if the line requires carrier detection to open, then SET LINE will hang waiting for an incoming call. HAYES, VENTEL, and the others indicate that SET LINE will prepare for a subsequent DIAL command for the given dialer. UNKNOWN means a modem is attached, but of an unknown or unsupported type. Support for new dialers is added from time to time, so type SET MODEM ? for a list of those supported in your copy of Kermit. Also see the description of the DIAL and SET DIAL commands. @i the SET MODEM command must be given @i the SET LINE command if you plan to use the DIAL command. SET NETWORK {TCP/IP, X.25}@\Select the type of network that is to be used for SET HOST connections. TCP/IP is presently available for UNIX systems that support the Berkeley sockets library (such as BSD-based UNIXes, HP-UX, Xenix with Excelan TCP/IP) and for VAX/VMS with the TGV MultiNet library. X.25 is available only for SUNs with the SunLink product (see section on X.25 support). SET PAD@\(See X.25 section) SET PARITY {EVEN, ODD, MARK, SPACE, NONE}@\Specify character parity for use in packets and terminal connection, normally NONE. If other than NONE, C-Kermit will seek to use the 8th-bit prefixing mechanism for transferring 8-bit data, which can be used successfully only if the other Kermit agrees during the automatic feature negotiation phase; if not, 8-bit data cannot be successfully transferred. In Berkeley-based UNIX implementations, if you SET PARITY to other than NONE, this will also enable Xon/Xoff flow control during file transfer if FLOW is set to XON/XOFF; otherwise, flow control is not done (because the communication line must be opened in "raw mode" for 8-bit data, which precludes the use of Xon/Xoff flow control in Berkeley UNIX). SET PROMPT [@i]@\The given text will be substituted for "@q(C-Kermit)>" as this program's prompt. If the text is omitted, the prompt will revert to "@q(C-Kermit>)". If the text is enclosed in { curly braces }, the braces are stripped and any leading and trailing blanks are retained. The text may contain backslash codes. SET QUIET {ON, OFF}@\Normally OFF. Various informational messages are issued by the user interface. ON suppresses these messages (but not error messages). Equivalent to '-q' on the command line. SET RECEIVE @i @i@\(See SET SEND.) SET RETRY @i@\Specify the maximum number of times a particular packet can be retransmitted (because of timeout or transmission errors) before Kermit gives up and declares the file transfer a failure. SET {SEND, RECEIVE} @i @i@\@begin(multiple) These commands are used to modify the normal formats and procedures used by the Kermit file transfer protocol. Normally they are not necessary, but they can be used to overcome unusual obstacles, or to improve Kermit's performance. The SET RECEIVE command lets you tell the other Kermit how it should format the packets it sends to you. Give SET RECEIVE commands to the Kermit that is going to receive files. If you plan to transfer files in both directions, give SET RECEIVE commands to both Kermits. The SET SEND command rarely needs to be used. It is for overriding what the the other Kermit requests, and should be necessary only if you cannot use a SET RECEIVE command to modify the parameter in question on the receiving Kermit. @end(multiple) @begin(d4) SET {RECEIVE, SEND} END-OF-PACKET @i(cc)@\Specifies the control character that marks the end of a Kermit packet. Normally 13 (carriage return), which most Kermit implementations require. SET {RECEIVE, SEND} PACKET-LENGTH @i(n)@\Specify the maximum packet length, normally 90. Shorter packet lengths can be useful on noisy lines, or with systems or front ends or networks that have small buffers. The shorter the packet, the higher the overhead, but the lower the chance of a packet being corrupted by noise, and the less time to retransmit corrupted packets. If you request a length greater than 94, "long packets" are used, which is a feature that not all other Kermit programs support (most popular ones do). C-Kermit can send and receive packets up to about 2000 characters in length. If you use longer packets, you should also request a stronger error checking method (see SET BLOCK-CHECK). SET SEND PACKET-LENGTH overrides the value requested by the other Kermit during protocol initiation unless the other Kermit requests a shorter length. SET {RECEIVE, SEND} PAD-CHARACTER @i(cc)@\SET RECEIVE PAD-CHARACTER allows C-Kermit to request the other Kermit to use @i(cc) as a pad character. Default @i(cc) is NUL, ASCII 0. C-Kermit normally does not need to have incoming packets preceded with pad characters. SET SEND PAD-CHARACTER designates a character to send before each packet. Normally, none is sent. Outbound padding is sometimes necessary for communicating with slow half duplex systems that provide no other means of line turnaround control. It can also be used to send special characters to communications equipment that needs to be put in "transparent" or "no echo" mode, when this can be accomplished in by feeding it a certain control character. SET {RECEIVE, SEND} PADDING @i(n)@\How many pad characters to request or send, normally 0. SET {RECEIVE, SEND} START-OF-PACKET @i(number)@\The normal Kermit packet prefix is Control-A (1); this command changes the prefix C-Kermit puts on outbound packets. The only reasons this should ever be changed would be: Some piece of equipment somewhere between the two Kermit programs will not pass through a Control-A; or, some piece of of equipment similarly placed is echoing its input. In the latter case, the recipient of such an echo can change the packet prefix for outbound packets to be different from that of arriving packets, so that the echoed packets will be ignored. The opposite Kermit must also be told to change the prefix for its inbound packets (use SET RECEIVE START on one Kermit and SET SEND START on the other). SET {RECEIVE, SEND} TIMEOUT @i(n)@\Normally, each Kermit partner sets its packet timeout interval based on what the opposite Kermit requests. SET RECEIVE TIMEOUT allows you to override the normal procedure and specify a timeout interval for C-Kermit to use when waiting for packets from the other Kermit. If you specify 0, then no timeouts will occur, and C-Kermit will wait forever for expected packets to arrive (relying on the other Kermit to provide the timeout function). SET SEND TIMEOUT specifies the number of seconds to wait for a packet before timing it out and retransmitting or requesting retransmission. @end(d4) SET SCRIPT ECHO {ON, OFF}@\Tell whether the SCRIPT command should echo its interactions with the remote host on your screen. ON by default. SET SERVER DISPLAY {ON, OFF}@\Specify whether C-Kermit, when in server mode, should put a file transfer display on the screen when it is in local mode. Normally OFF. SET SERVER TIMEOUT @i@\Specify the time interval @i in seconds for the C-Kermit server to send NAK packets while waiting for a command packet. These NAKs are intended to break deadlocks in case a client Kermit that cannot time out sends a command packet which is lost. However, the server command-wait NAKs can interfere with originate/answer devices that are to be used for answering. For example, you can run a C-Kermit server on a modem line that normally dials out, so that people can dial in to it and give Kermit commands. While waiting for the phone call to come, the server NAKs might "wake up" the modem and put it into originate mode, preventing the incoming call from being answered. SET SESSION-LOG { BINARY, TEXT }@\Specify how the session log is to be written. TEXT is the default, meaning that lines are written using the convention of the local system; for example, UNIX session logs will have carriage returns (and certain other extraneous characters like NUL) omitted. BINARY means to record all characters in the session log. SET SPEED @i@\The transmission speed in bits per second ("baud rate") for the communication line specified in SET LINE (but not SET HOST). This command cannot be used to change the speed of your own console terminal. Some computers are set up in such a way that you must give this command after a SET LINE command before you can use the line. Type SET SPEED ? to see what speeds are available. Use speeds greater than 9600 with caution, since they are not necessarily supported by the communication devices on your computer or the other computer, or the communication path between them. SET SUSPEND { OFF, ON }@\(UNIX only) On UNIX versions that support job control, C-Kermit can normally be put in the background by typing the suspend character (usually Ctrl-\), or giving C-Kermit the SUSPEND (or Z) command, or by using the Z connect-mode escape. SET SUSPEND OFF disables this feature. This is useful when suspending doesn't work right (e.g. on certain UNIX implementations that have bugs) or when you are running Kermit under the Bourne shell. SET TAKE { ECHO, ERROR } { ON, OFF }@\SET TAKE ECHO tells whether commands from a TAKE file are displayed on the screen as they are executed (normally they are not). SET TAKE ERROR controls whether execution of a TAKE command file should be terminated if an error occurs (normally it is not). SET TERMINAL @i @i@\Used for specifying terminal parameters. @begin(d4) SET TERMINAL BYTESIZE { 7, 8 }@\tells the character size to be used on the communication line between the local C-Kermit and the remote Kermit during terminal emulation (C-Kermit CONNECT command). It's 7 by default, which means that the high-order (8th) bit is stripped from each incoming and outgoing character. Use 8 for 8-bit character sets like ISO Latin Alphabet 1, but this will work only if the connection really is 8-bits no-parity. Compare with SET COMMAND BYTESIZE. SET TERMINAL CHARACTER SET [ ]@\For use during CONNECT. Specify the character set that is being sent to C-Kermit by the remote computer, and specify which local character set to translate it into. If the local character set is omitted, the current file character set is used. The choices for the character sets are the same as for C-Kermit's file character sets (see SET FILE CHARACTER-SET). SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET TRANSPARENT (which is Kermit's startup default) means no translation is done. Equivalently, no translation is done if the local and remote sets are specified to be the same. When they are different, translation goes through the Latin Alphabet 1 unless the local character set is Cyrillic-based in which case it goes through the Latin/Cyrillic Alphabet. Kanji terminal character-sets are not supported. SET TERMINAL LOCKING-SHIFT { OFF, ON }@\Tells C-Kermit whether to use Shift-In/Shift-Out (Ctrl-O and Ctrl-N) to switch between 7-bit and 8-bit characters during CONNECT. Applies to the Kermit-to-remote part of the connection only, and it applies to both the characters you type and to those Kermit receives from the remote. OFF by default. SET TERMINAL NEWLINE { ON, OFF }@\OFF is the default. When ON, Kermit sends CRLF whenever you type CR during terminal emulation. SET TERMINAL TYPE { VT100, TEK }@\(OS/2 C-Kermit only) Select the type of terminal to emulate. @end(d4) Terminal parameters can be displayed with the SHOW TERMINAL command. SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET @i@\Tells what character set should be used for file data within Kermit packets during transfer of text files. The choices are: @begin(d4) TRANSPARENT@\Don't translate characters at all. ASCII@\Means to use the 7-bit ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character set. If the local file character set contains characters that do not occur in ASCII (like accented letters), represent them in ASCII the best way possible. CYRILLIC-ISO@\Means to use the ISO 8859-5 Latin/Cyrillic Alphabet, which is capable of representing Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc. LATIN1@\Means to use ISO 8859 Latin Alphabet 1, which is capable of representing most western European languages (English, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, etc). JAPANESE-EUC@\Means to use Japanese Extended UNIX Code, which is a mixture of 7-bit Roman (Japanese ISO 646, similar to ASCII), single-byte Katakana, and double-byte JIS X 0208 Kanji. @end(d4) SET TRANSMIT @i @i@\Controls the behavior of the TRANSMIT command, used for uploading files to computers that don't have Kermit programs. See TRANSMIT. The parameters are: @begin(d4) ECHO { OFF, ON }@\Controls whether the characters that are sent to the other computer are also displayed on your screen. The default is ON. EOF @i@\String to send after sending the file, for example SET TRANSMIT EOF \4 to send a Ctrl-D. FILL @i@\ASCII value of character to insert into blank lines. Some computers ignore blank lines, others might terminate the upload when they receive a blank line. Use this command to insert a character, such as space (32) or X (88), in any blank line. LINEFEED { ON, OFF }@\Transmit linefeed as well as carriage return at the end of each line. Normally, only CR is sent. LOCKING-SHIFT { ON, OFF }@\Whether to send the locking-shift characters SO (Ctrl-N) and SI (Ctrl-O) around 8-bit characters when transmitting and PARITY is not NONE. PAUSE @i@\Number of milliseconds (1000 milliseconds = 1 second) to pause after sending each line of a text file, or each character of a binary file (according to SET FILE TYPE). Maximum 1000, default 0. PROMPT @i@\ASCII value of character to look for from host before sending next line, normally LF (10), in text mode only; 0 means not to wait for any responses from the host -- just send all the characters in a steady stream. This command has no effect in binary mode (i.e. when FILE TYPE is set to BINARY). @end(d4) Synonym: SET XMIT. SET UNKNOWN-CHAR-SET { DISCARD, KEEP }@\Tells what to do if a file arrives whose Attribute packet announces a transfer character set unknown to C-Kermit. SET WILDCARD-EXPANSION { KERMIT, SHELL }@\(UNIX only) Tells who should expand wildcard characters in SEND and similar commands: KERMIT (the default) or the user's preferred UNIX shell (such as sh, csh, or ksh). @begin(multiple) SET WINDOW @i@\Select a window size. This refers to Kermit's sliding window packet transport protocol. Normally, Kermit sends a packet, waits for the reply, then sends the next packet, and so on. This is called "stop and wait" operation, corresponding to a window size of 1, and is supported by all Kermit programs. If you select a window size greater than 1, and if the other Kermit supports sliding windows, then multiple packets (up to the window size) can be sent before any replies are required. This allows file transfer to operate efficiently over connections that have long delays, like over public data networks or through satellites. With a sufficiently large window size, transmission can be continuous with no pauses or delays. The maximum window size is 31, but sizes greater than 5 or 10 are rarely necessary. Sliding windows may be used in conjunction with long packets, but the maximum length for packets decreases with increasing window size. Kermit uses the "selective retransmission" technique, so that if packets are damaged during sliding windows transfers, only the damaged packets are retransmitted. @end(multiple) SET X.25@\(See X.25 section) @end(d4) @subheading(The SHOW Command) Syntax: @q @i The SHOW command with the default argument of "parameters" displays the values of most of the SET parameters described above. If you type a category name after SHOW, then a more detailed report of parameters within the named category are displayed, for example SHOW COMMUNICATIONS, SHOW PROTOCOL. Type SHOW ? to see a list of the available categories. @section(Backslash Notation) @label(-bkslash) @q<\> (backslash) in any command means that what follows is not ordinary text, but rather a code, variable, or function whose value is to be substituted into the command at that point. The character after the backslash identifies which kind of quantity this is: @begin(description,leftmargin +6,indent -2,spread 0) @q<%>@\A user-defined simple (scalar) variable @q<&>@\an array reference @q<$>@\an environment variable @q@\(or @q) a built-in variable @q@\(or @q) a function @q@\(or @q) a decimal (base 10) number @q@\(or @q) an octal (base 8) number @q@\(or @q) a hexadecimal (base 16) number @q<\>@\the backslash character itself @q<\b>@\(or @q<\B>) the BREAK signal (OUTPUT command only) @q<\l>@\(or @q<\L>) a Long BREAK signal (OUTPUT command only) @i@\a 1-3 digit decimal number. @i@\The following character is taken literally. @end(description) Variables, arrays, functions, etc, are explained in the next section. Numbers can be expressed in backslash notation in the following ways: @begin(d4) @q<\{...}>@\A grouped number, braces discarded, e.g. \{17}5 is not the same as \175. @q<\>@i@\(1-3 decimal digits) replaced by binary number 0-255, e.g. @q<\13> represents carriage return (ASCII 13). @q<\d>@i or @q<\D>@i - Same as @q<\>@i @q<\o>@i or @q<\O>@i (1-3 octal digits) replaced by binary number 0-255. @q<\x>@i or @q<\X>@i (2 hexadecimal digits) replaced by binary number 0-255. @end(d4) Numbers expressed in backslash notation are typically used to express nonprintable ASCII characters within character strings, or in commands that want you to enter the ASCII value of a character. Examples: @begin(example) echo \7Wake up!\7 ; A message with beeps echo \27[H\27[J ; VT100 clear-screen sequence set pad-character \o177 ; The ASCII character DEL @end(example) @section(Macros, Variables, and Script Programming) @label(-macros) C-Kermit's script programming language is based upon that of MS-DOS Kermit, and it is in most ways upwards compatible with it, meaning that many MS-DOS Kermit script programs (or TAKE files in general) will work in C-Kermit with little or no modification. C-Kermit also has a SCRIPT command that provides a terse but cryptic shorthand for automating certain kinds of interactive operations (see Section @ref<-scrcmd>). @subsection(Variables) A variable name is of the form @q<\%@i(i)>, where @i(i) is a single letter or digit. Letter-variables are different from digit-variables, which are used as macro parameters. The alphabetic case of a letter-variable doesn't matter: @q<\%a> is the same variable as @q<\%A>. All variables have character strings as values. A variable is considered to exist if its value is a string of at least one character in length, otherwise it is "undefined" and does not exist. A value is given to a variable using the DEFINE or ASSIGN command: @begin(d4) DEFINE @i [ @i ]@\The named variable (or macro, see below) is created, with @i as a value. If a macro or variable of the given name already exists, its definition is replaced with the new one. The given text is copied into the definition literally. If it contains any variable names, functions references, etc, these are simply copied, rather than evaluated. ASSIGN @i @i@\The text is evaluated, and then the named variable or macro's value is set to the evaluated text. This differs from DEFINE, which does not evaluate the text, but rather copies it literally. The distinction between ASSIGN and DEFINE doesn't matter unless the text contains variable names. With ASSIGN, the contents of the variable is copied, whereas with DEFINE, the name of the variable is copied. @end(d4) To illustrate the difference between DEFINE and ASSIGN: @begin(example) def \%a Monday def \%b Today is \%a assign \%c Today is \%a def \%a Tuesday echo \%b echo \%c @end(example) The definition of @q<\%b> is "@q", so that whenever the value of @q<\%a> changes, so does the value of @q<\%b>. The definition of @q<\%c>, however, is fixed as "@q", because "@q" was the value of @q<\%a> at the time that @q<\%c> was assigned. A variable can be used in any Kermit command simply by referring to its name: @example(echo \%a) and variables can be undefined by DEFINEing or ASSIGNing nothing to them, for example: @example(define \%a) You can define variables with long names, too: @example(define telephone-number 7654321) But you have to refer to them in a special way, @q<\m(>@i@q<)>, e.g.: @example A special kind of variable is called an @i. This is simply a list, in which each element has a number. An array reference looks like @q<\&a[>@i@q<]>. The @q<\&> means this is an array element rather than a simple variable, the letter tells which array it is (a, b, c, ..., z), and the brackets enclose an @i which tells which member of the array is being referred to: 1, 2, 3, etc. The index can be a number, or it can be a variable or function (even another array element) that has a numeric value. Array indices must be (or evaluate to) zero or greater. Arrays have to be declared before you can use them, so Kermit will know how big the array is and can create storage for it. The command is DECLARE, for example: @example(DECLARE \&A[100]) This tells Kermit to create an array called @q<\&a> with 100 elements. Once an array is declared, its elements can be used just like simple variables: @example(DEFINE \&A[3] Tuesday) An entire array can be destroyed like this: @example(DECLARE \&A[0]) If you refer to an element of an array that is not declared, the reference is replaced by the empty string. The array @q<\&@@[]> is predeclared. It contains the command line that the Kermit program was invoked with, one word per array element. The number of elements in the array is given in the built-in variable @q<\v(args)> (described later). Example: @example<$ @ux[kermit -p e -b 3]> Here @q<\&@@[0]> is the Kermit program's file specification, like @q; @q<\&@@[1]> is @q<-p>, @q<\&@@[2]> is @q, and so on. The simple variables @q<\%a..\%z> and the arrays @q<\&a[]..\&z[]> are all @i, which means they can be referenced from anywhere in your script program, including from within a TAKE file or macro. You can list the names and values of all existing global simple variables with the SHOW GLOBALS command, and you can list the names and dimensions of all declared arrays with SHOW ARRAYS. @subsection(Macros) A Kermit macro is a list of one or more Kermit commands that can be referred to by a single name. Like variables, macros are created by the DEFINE (or ASSIGN) command: @example(define ibm set parity mark, set duplex half, set handsh xon) and unlike variables, macros do not have weird-looking names; macro names can be ordinary words. Once a macro is defined, you can execute all of its commands simply by typing the macro's name: @example(C-Kermit>@ux[ibm]) If you have defined a macro that has the same name as one of Kermit's built-in commands, you will have to insert the word DO before the name in order to execute the macro rather than the built-in command: @example(C-Kermit>@ux[do ibm]) (you can also use the word DO to invoke any macro). In these examples, "IBM" and "DO IBM" are the @i. If you follow a macro invocation by one or more "words" (a word is a sequence of characters delimited by spaces, or else at the end of a line), then each of these words is assigned to a digit-variable that is accessible to the commands within the macro definition. These trailing "words" are called the @i. The first parameter is assigned to @q<\%1>, the second to @q<\%2>, and so on, up to a maximum of nine. The variable @q<\%0> contains the name of the macro: @begin(example) define demo echo \%0: \%1 \%2 \%3 \%4 \%5 \%6 \%7 \%8 \%9 demo this is a test of macro argument passing @end(example) Variables that do not have corresponding parameters are undefined (empty). The number of arguments passed to the macro is available in the named variable \v(argc)@foot(which, for compatibility with MS-DOS Kermit, may also be referred to simply as ARGC, but only within IF conditions.) Macro parameters are @i to the macro they are passed to. If macro A invokes macro B, macro B gets its own set of parameters, which are separate from macro A's, so that macro A still has its own parameters available after macro B has completed. The variables @q<\%0..\%9> may be used as global variables at "top level", when no macros are active, by assigning values to them in the normal way. To demonstrate: @begin(example) define xx echo \%1, yy Sneezy, echo \%1 define yy echo \%1, zz Grumpy, echo \%1 define zz echo \%1 xx Sleepy @end(example) Try this, and you'll see how the value of @q<\%1> is saved and restored at each level. Macro parameter words may be grouped into single parameters by enclosing them in braces. Try the following example to see how this works: @begin(example) define msg echo \%0: \%1 msg this is another test of macro argument passing msg {this is yet another test of macro argument passing} @end(example) You can have a macro list its arguments on your screen by including the command SHOW ARGUMENTS within the macro definition. You can list the names and definitions of all existing macros with the SHOW MACROS command. If you include a name, as in "SHOW MACROS FOO", it will list the definition(s) of only those macros whose names start with the character(s) you have specified. If you define a macro named ON_EXIT, it will be executed automatically when the Kermit program exits. @subsection(Named Variables) Built-in named variables are read-only, you cannot change them. Their names are of the form @q<\v(name)>, in which the v can be lower or uppercase, and the parentheses are required around the variable name. If you refer to a named variable that does not exist, it will be evaluated as the empty (zero-length) string. C-Kermit's variables are: @begin(d84) @q<\v(argc)>@\number of arguments passed to currently active macro. @q<\v(args)>@\number of arguments passed to the program on the command line. The program argument vector is assigned to the array @q<\&@@[]>. @q<\v(count)>@\current value of COUNT (loop control via SET COUNT, IF COUNT). @q<\v(cpu)>@\CPU hardware type, if known, otherwise "unknown". @q<\v(date)>@\current date in @i
format (e.g. 8 Feb 1990 or 10 Nov 1990) @q<\v(directory)>@\current device and/or directory. @q<\v(filespec)>@\file specification from most recent SEND, MSEND, or GET command, or the name of the file most recently received. @q<\v(fsize)>@\size of last file transferred. @q<\v(home)>@\user's home (login) directory name. @q<\v(host)>@\computer hostname. @q<\v(input)>@\current INPUT buffer contents. @q<\v(line)>@\current communication device or network host. @q<\v(ndate)>@\current date in numeric format, e.g. 19901225. @q<\v(ntime)>@\current time in seconds since midnight, 0 through 86399. @q<\v(platform)>@\name specific machine or environment C-Kermit was built for. @q<\v(return)>@\Value of most recent RETURN command. @q<\v(speed)>@\Transmission speed of current communication device, if known. (A spurious value of 38400 might be reported for pseudoterminals.) @q<\v(status)>@\0 if the previous command succeeded, nonzero if it failed. @q<\v(system)>@\name of generic operating system C-Kermit was built for, such as UNIX or VMS. @q<\v(tfsize)>@\total size of all files in the last group of files that was transferred. @q<\v(time)>@\current time in hh:mm:ss 24-hour clock format (e.g. 13:45:23). @q<\v(ttyfd)>@\file descriptor of communication device (UNIX only). @q<\v(version)>@\numeric version number of C-Kermit. @end(d84) You can use these variables in any Kermit command where their values would make sense: @example A @q<\v>-variable's name can be abbreviated, as long as the abbreviation is enough to distinguish it from all the other built-in variable names: @q<\v(dir)>, @q<\v(ver)>, etc. You can get a listing of Kermit's built-in variables and their values with the SHOW VARIABLES command. @subsection(Built-in Functions) Built-in functions are of the form @q<\f>@i(@i). The F and the name can be upper or lower case. The @i are a comma-separated list of arguments. The function reference is replaced by its value. For example: @begin(example) define \%a ABC123XYZ define \%b ...\Flower(\%a)... @end(example) results in a value of @q<...abc123xyz...> for @q<\%b>. The names of built-in functions and variables can be abbreviated to their minimum unique length, for example @q<\feval(1+1)>, @q<\v(dir)>, etc. C-Kermit's functions include string-oriented functions that return a string: @begin(d84) @q<\Fliteral(>@i@q<)>@\Copies its argument literally, without any evaluation. @q<\Fcharacter(>@i@q<)>@\Returns the single character corresponding to its argument, which must be numeric. For example, @q<\fchar(65)> is 'A', @q<\fchar(193)> is A-acute (in the Latin-1). If you give a negative number or a number larger than 255, only the low-order 8 bits are used. @q<\Fsubstr(>@i@q<,>@i@q<,>@q@q<)>@\Substring of the string @i starting at position @i, of length @i. @i and @i must be numbers or variables that have numeric values. Example: @example extracts the word "there". The following is equivalent: @begin(example) define \%a hello there define \%b 7 define \%c 5 echo \fsubst(\%a,\%b,\%c) @end(example) @q<\Flower(>@i@q<)>@\Converts all uppercase letters in its argument to lowercase, for example: @begin(example) define \%a FINE echo This is a \flower(\%a Mess). @end(example) prints "This is a fine mess." @q<\Fupper(>@i@q<)>@\Converts all lowercase letters in its argument to uppercase. @q<\Freverse(>@i@q<)>@\Reverses the order of the characters in its argument, for example @q<\frev(mupeen)> is @q. @q<\Frepeat(>@i@q<,>@i@q<)>@\Repeats the first argument the number of times given by the second argument, for example: @example produces @q<+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+>. @q<\Flpad(>@i@q<,>@i@q<,>@i@q<)>@\Left-pads the @i out to length @i with character @i. If @i is omitted, blank (space) is used. @q<\Frpad(>@i@q<,>@i@q<,>@i@q<)>@\Right-pads the @i out to length @i with character @i. If @i is omitted, blank (space) is used. @q<\Fexecute(>@i @i@q<)>@\Execute the named macro with the given parameters (if any), return the macro's RETURN value if any (see RETURN). @q<\Fcontents(>@i@q<)>@\Returns the current definition (contents) of a variable. If the definition includes variable names or function references, these are copied literally, without evaluation. @q<\Fdefinition(>@i@q<)>@\Returns the literal definition of the named macro. @end(d84) Here are the string functions that return a number: @begin(d84) @q<\Flength(>@i@q<)>@\Returns the length of the argument string. @q<\Findex(>@i@q<,>@i@q<,>@i@q<)>@\Returns the position of the first occurrence string @i in string @i, starting at position @i. If @i is omitted, then starting at the beginning. @end(d84) File functions: @begin(d84) @q<\Ffiles(>@i@q<)>@\Returns the number of files that match the given file specification, for example @q<\ffiles(ck*.c)>. @q<\Fnextfile()>@\Returns the next filename that matches the @q<\Ffiles>() file specification. Use this in a counted loop (see below) after executing @q<\Ffiles()>. @end(d84) Integer arithmetic functions: @begin(d84) @q<\Fmax(>@i@q<,>@i@q<)>@\Returns the maximum of its two numeric arguments. @q<\Fmin(>@i@q<,>@i@q<)>@\Returns the minimum of its two numeric arguments. @q<\Feval(>@i@q<)>@\Evaluates the given arithmetic expression. The operands of the expression can be numeric strings or variables, or functions that evaluate to numeric strings. The precedence is the normal, intuitive algebraic (or programming) precedence, and can be altered by the use of parentheses, which have higher precedence than any other operator. Spaces may be used to separate operators from operands, but they are not required. @end(d84) Table @ref(-arith) shows the types of expressions accepted by @q<\feval()>. @begin @bar() @blankspace(1) @case[device,postscript="@begin(example,size -1)", else="@begin(example)"] Operator Fix Precedence Operation Example ( ) 1 Group (\%a + 3) * (\%1-5) ! Post 2 Factorial \%x! - (\%x-2)! ~ Pre 3 Logical NOT ~\%n - Pre 3 Negative -\%n ^ In 4 Raise to power 2^\%p * In 5 Multiply \%c * 5 / In 5 Divide \%c / 5 % In 5 Modulus \%c % 5 & In 5 Logical AND \%c & 5 + In 6 Add \%t + \%u - In 6 Subtract 27 - \%x | In 6 Logical OR \%z | 4 # In 6 Exclusive OR \%z # 4 @@ In 6 Greatest Common \%z @@ 30 Divisor @end(example) @caption<\feval() Arithmetic Functions> @tag<-arith> @bar() @end
You can list the names of Kermit's built-in functions with the SHOW FUNCTIONS command. Two Kermit commands are also available to perform simple arithmetic on variables: @begin(d4) INCREMENT @i [@i]@\Add @i to the named variable. If @i is omitted, add 1. If the variable does not have a numeric value, this command has no effect. Examples: @q. DECREMENT @i [@i]@\Subtract @i from the named variable. If @i is omitted, subtract 1. If the variable does not have a numeric value, this command has no effect. @end(d4) @subsection(Script Programming) Kermit's script programming language lets you write procedures, or @i, that can include any Kermit command. Variables and functions can be referenced at practically any point in any command. Control structures are provided for decision making, transfer of control, looping, scoping of variables, and so forth. A script program can be a TAKE file, a macro, or any combination of the two. The basic idea of a script program is to automate tasks that you would normally do "by hand" when interacting with another computer: dialing the modem, negotiating through network boxes and front ends, logging in, etc etc. You can also write programs to manage local files, or to do anything that you could do manually with Kermit. To automate interaction with another computer, you need a replacement for the CONNECT command. This comes in two parts, an OUTPUT command that "types" what you would type during CONNECT, and an INPUT command that reads the other computer's responses, plus a couple related commands: @begin(description,leftmargin +4,indent -4) OUTPUT @i@\Send the text to the other computer. The text can be any combination of plain ordinary characters, backslash codes, variables, and functions. To send a BREAK signal, include @q<\\B> in the OUTPUT string. To send a Long BREAK signal, include @q<\\L> in the OUTPUT string. INPUT @i @i@\Read responses from the other computer. Wait up to @i seconds for the specified text to appear. If the text appears within the timeout interval, the command succeeds immediately. Otherwise it fails. The @i can contain any combination of ordinary characters, backslash codes, variables, and functions. If you want to include leading and/or trailing blanks in the INPUT text, surround it with braces, as in: @example INPUT can be interrupted with Ctrl-C, in which case it fails. REINPUT @i @i@\Searches previous responses from the computer for the given text. The timeout parameter is ignored. The previous responses are stored in the INPUT buffer, which is 256 characters long, and which may also be accessed via the @q<\v(input)> variable. ECHO [ @i ]@\Display the text on the local screen, followed by a newline. The text can contain any combination of backslash codes, variables, functions, etc. CLEAR@\Clear any as-yet-unread characters from the communication device's input buffer. PAUSE [ @i ]@\Do nothing for the indicated number of seconds. If a number is not given, pause for 1 second. If anything is typed on the keyboard during the pause interval, "wake up". PAUSE can be interrupted by typing Ctrl-C (or any other character), in which case it fails. WAIT [ @i [ { CD, CTS, DSR } ] ]@\Wait up to @i seconds for the specified modem signals to appear on the currently selected communication device. If you don't include any modem signal names, WAIT is equivalent to PAUSE. If you include one or more signal names (separated by spaces), Kermit will wait for @i of the specified signals to appear. If they don't appear within the alloted time, or if the device does not have modem control, then the command will fail. You may interrupt the WAIT command by typing any character at the keyboard, in which case the command will fail. The command will also fail if modem-signal support is not included in C-Kermit for your particular operating system version. The modem signals are: CD (carrier detect), CTS (Clear To Send), and DSR (Data Set Ready). @end(description) Example: @begin(example) wait 10 cd dsr ; Wait 5 seconds for CD and DSR. if success goto ok ; Test the result. @end(example) WAIT can be interrupted by typing Ctrl-C (or any other character), in which case it fails. The behavior of the INPUT command can be controlled by SET INPUT: @begin(description,leftmargin +4,indent -4) SET [ INPUT ] CASE {IGNORE, OBSERVE}@\Tells whether alphabetic case matters when searching the remote computer's responses for the INPUT text. This setting also affects C-Kermit's other string comparison operations, including IF EQUAL, IF LGT, etc (IF command described later). SET INPUT ECHO { ON, OFF }@\Tells whether the characters read by the INPUT command should be echoed on the screen. SET INPUT TIMEOUT-ACTION { PROCEED, QUIT }@\Tells whether the script program should continue or stop immediately if an INPUT command fails. @end(description) At this point Kermit needs a decision making mechanism to tell whether the INPUT command succeeded or failed. This is the IF command. Note that IF can be used after INPUT only if you SET INPUT TIMEOUT PROCEED. @begin(description,leftmargin +4,indent -4) IF [NOT] @i @i@\If the @i is satisfied, execute the following Kermit @i. If the word NOT is included, execute the command if the condition is @i satisfied. Only one command may be given, and it must appear on the same line as the IF. @end(description) The IF command supports a wide variety of conditions. These are: @begin(d84) IF SUCCESS@\The previous command succeeded. IF FAILURE@\The previous command failed. IF DEFINED @i@\The named variable or macro is defined. IF BACKGROUND@\Kermit is running in the background or with its standard input and output redirected. IF COUNT@\Subtract one from COUNT, execute the command if the result is greater than zero (see SET COUNT). IF EXIST @i@\The named file exists. IF NUMERIC @i@\The variable's value is numeric. IF EQUAL @i@\s1 and s2 (character strings or variables) are equal. IF LLT @i@\s1 is lexically (alphabetically) less than s2. Use IF NOT LGT for less-@|than-@|or-@|equal. IF LGT @i@\s1 is lexically (alphabetically) greater than s2. Use IF NOT LLT for greater-@|than-@|or-@|equal. IF = @i@\n1 and n2 (numbers or variables containing numbers) are equal. IF < @i@\n1 is arithmetically less than n2. Use IF NOT > for less-@|than-@|or-@|equal. IF > @i@\n1 is arithmetically greater than n2\n. Use IF NOT < for greater-@|than-@|or-@|equal. @end(d84) String comparisons in IF EQUAL, IF LGT, and IF LLT treat alphabetic case according to SET INPUT CASE {IGNORE, OBSERVE}. You can also use @q<\fupper()> and @q<\flower()> to force caseless comparisons if INPUT CASE is set to OBSERVE. Arithmetic comparisons work with numeric constants, variables and array elements that evaluate to a numeric string, functions that return a numeric value, and the special "MS-DOS Kermit compatibility" variables COUNT, VERSION, and ARGC, which can only appear in this context. Numeric strings are converted to binary integers before comparison, and may be positive, zero, or negative. Floating point ("real") numbers are not supported. The IF command may be followed on the next line by an ELSE command, which is executed if the IF condition is not true, and which is not executed if the IF condition is true. Example: @begin(example) IF < \%x 10 ECHO It's less ELSE echo It's not less @end(example) As in any programming language, it is desirable to be able to go to different places in the program based on the decisions made by IF commands. The command for going-to is: @begin(description,leftmargin +4,indent -4) GOTO @i