rankin%EQL.Caltech.Edu@IAGO.CALTECH.EDU.UUCP (02/27/87)
Use f$parse() to determine from DCL whether a filespec ending in ".Dir" is actually a valid Files-11 directory. Break 'filespec' up into three parts: left: node::device:[directory] ! f$parse(f,,,"NODE") + f$parse... middle: name ! f$parse(f,,,"NAME") right: .type;version ! f$parse(f,,,"TYPE") + f$parse(f,,,"VERSION") File type and version must be ".DIR;1" and length of name must be at >= 1. Insert 'name' as a subdirectory into the directory specification. $ dirspec = f$extract(0,f$length(left)-1,left) -! remove right bracket + "." + middle + "]" ! add subdirectory Now use f$parse to determine whether this directory is accessible: $ its_a_dir = ( f$parse(dirspec).nes."" ) 'f$parse(dirspec)' returns "node::device:[directory.subdir].;" if the directory exists, null string ("") otherwise. 'f$parse("",dirspec)' also works. Pat Rankin