Brain Imaging & Analysis Center

CIGAL generates text output in several different output “channels” each of which can be controlled independently. Any one of the channels can be assigned to the special devices, TERMINAL or PRINTER, or to a disk file. Sending output to TERMINAL means it gets printed on the standard computer screen, whereas sending to PRINTER causes the output to be sent over the parallel printer port. CIGAL's standard channels are:

  Channel     Default Device      Description
  =======     ==============      ===========
  OUTPUT      TERMINAL            All normal output
  ERROR       TERMINAL            Error messages
  JOURNAL     inactive            A record of every interactive command
                                   (see \L[JOURNAL][2])
  LOG         inactive            A copy of all OUTPUT messages sent to the
                                  terminal; LOG cannot go to the terminal
  DEBUG       TERMINAL            Debugging messages (see \L[DEBUG][4])

You use the OPEN and CLOSE commands to assign a channel to a different device or to a disk file. After assigning a channel with OPEN it remains assigned until it is reassigned or closed (see OPEN(2) and CLOSE(2)).

CIGAL also recognizes the UNIX (and DOS) convention for redirecting the output of any individual command simply by adding '> target' to the end of the command line. The syntax is:

        command_line >  filename        ; write output to FILENAME
  or:   command_line >> filename        ; append output to FILENAME
  or:   command_line >  printer         ; send output to printer
  or:   command_line >  terminal        ; send output to screen
  or:   command_line >  stringvarb      ; send output to string variable

where COMMAND_LINE is any CIGAL command, EXCEPT an arithmetic expression. Note: If the command line begins with a function, variable, or number, then CIGAL thinks it is an arithmetic expression and will interpret the > or » as arithmetic operators. To get around this, you should use the TYPE command (see SYNTAX(1) and TYPE(2)).

Note: the > or » is treated as a separate argument by the parser and therefore MUST have blank spaces before and after it (see SYNTAX(1)).

For example,

    open journal 'logfile'            ; these first 2 lines send a copy of
    open log 'logfile'                ; everything you type, and all
                                      ; messages printed on the screen
                                      ; to LOGFILE.
    type random(30)                   ; print 30 numbers on the screen
    type random(30) > ran.dat         ; create disk file named RAN.DAT
                                      ; and print the 30 numbers there
    type vga0(0:11,0:20) >> ran.dat   ; add values in VGA0 to RAN.DAT
    open output 'junk'                ; now assign OUTPUT to file JUNK
    type 'Area=' 3.14*R*R             ; this goes to file JUNK
    type 'Area=' 3.14*R*R > terminal  ; this is printed on the screen
    list 'ran.dat' > printer          ; print file RAN.DAT on printer
    type vdata                        ; print VDATA values in file JUNK
    vecs                              ; print VECS values in file JUNK
    close output                      ; close the file assigned to OUTPUT

When you close a file or channel using the CLOSE command, the associated channel returns to its default output device. However, when you redirect output using > or », after the command has finished the standard output channel, the function returns to whatever it was assigned to previously (see the last TYPE example above).

If you use > or » to redirect the output of a macro program, then all standard output produced by that macro will be redirected. Thus,

              mymacro > mac.dat

is approximately equivalent to

              open output mac.dat
              mymacro
              close mac.dat

See FILES(1) for more information on CIGAL's usage of disk files.

See Also:
CIGAL Home, CIGAL Manual, Topics List, Manual Help