                           Concept : Command Syntax

NAME
   Syntax - The Empire command syntax

Level: Basic

The Empire Shell (command interpreter) expects input in the form:
   [##:##] Command : VERB ARG1 ARG2 ...
VERB  is  any  one  of the Empire commands on the "command list" (what you see
when you type "list"-- e.g.  "map", "move", "info", etc).

The number of ARGs varies from command to command.  In  most  cases  the  ARGs
need  not  be  supplied on the command line; any that are not supplied will be
obtained by prompting.  The exception to this rule are those ARGs that are en-
closed in [square brackets] in the command list.  The presence of  these  ARGs
changes the way the command is carried out.

Certain  basic argument types recur often and are abbreviated in the following
ways.

<TYPE> ::= 'se', 'sh', 'l', or 'p' for sector, ship, land unit, or  plane  re-
   spectively.  If "sector" is not a possibility, then 's' will likely suffice
   for "ship".

<CNUM/CNAME> ::= either a country number or a country name

<COMM>  ::= any one, (or unambiguous abbreviation), of the list of commodities
   found in "info Selector":

<LOAN> ::= loan number

<SECT> ::= sector coordinates in the form: x,y

<SECTS> ::= sector(s) in the form:

         lox:hix,loy:hiy ?cond&cond&...

   "lox", "hix", "loy", "hiy" are coordinates bounding the rectangular area to
   be considered

   "cond" is a condition of the form:

         <VALUE><OPERATOR><VALUE>

   <VALUE> is either a <COMM>, as above, a number in the range 0 to  65536,  a
   sector  designation,  ("m"  for mine, "c" for capital, etc), a type of unit
   ("frigate", "cavalry", etc), or a selector found in "info Selector".
   <OPERATOR> can be any one of:
   <  less than
   =  equal
   >  greater than
   #  not equal

   Thus "mob=100", "ore#0", "7=guns", "civ#mil", "des=b" are examples  of  le-
   gitimate conditions, (note lack of embedded spaces), and
      [##:##] Command : census -3:3,-3:3 ?des=+&gun=5&mil>civ
   will  list  all  highways  within 3 of your capital with exactly 5 guns and
   more military than civilians.

   Similarly,
      [##:##] Command : deliver f -9:9,-9:9 ?f_del=0
   will allow you to set up food delivery in all the sectors  that  don't  al-
   ready have food delivery.

   Note  that  "hix",  "hiy",  and "?cond" are all optional.  Also, the entire
   "lox:hix,loy:hiy" section may be replaced by either "#", "#0", "#1",  "#2",
   or  "#3",  ...  which  refer  to "realm"s which you can define.  (See "info
   realm".)  Note that "#" and "#0" are equivalent.  Also "*"  refers  to  all
   sectors, and "@x,y:dist" refers to all sectors within dist of x,y.

<SHIP> ::= one ship number

<FLEET>  ::=  fleet  designation,  which  may  be a list of ships separated by
   slashes (`/'), a fleet letter, the character tilde (`~')  which  means  all
   ships not in a specific fleet, or a rectangular sector area.

<SHIP/FLEET> ::= either a single ship number or a fleet designation.

   Note  that <FLEET> specifications may have an optional ?cond&cond...  argu-
   ment like that used for <SECTS> arguments.  For instance:
      [##:##] Command : ship ~ ?des=d&mil>5
   will list all destroyers that have more than 5 military which are not  cur-
   rently in any fleet.

The output from commands may also be sent to a file or another process by uti-
lizing these alternate syntaxes:

   [##:##] Command : VERB ARG1 ... > FILE
which sends the output to the file "FILE".

   [##:##] Command : VERB ARG1 ... >> FILE
which appends the output to the file "FILE".

   [##:##] Command : VERB ARG1 ... >! FILE
which sends the output to the file "FILE", replacing the file it if it already
exists.

   [##:##] Command : VERB ARG ... | PROGRAM [ARGS...]
which  send  the  output of the command to the program "PROGRAM" with optional
arguments "ARGS".  This is most useful when "PROGRAM" is some  type  of  pager
like more(1) or less(1).

The Empire shell also recognizes a few control characters:

     name  meaning
interrupt  Abort command and return to Empire command level
     quit  Exit Empire
      EOT  Exit Empire

SEE ALSO
   realm, Moving, Selector, Playing

