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<h1><img src="analogo.gif" alt=""> Analog 6.0:
Syntax of configuration commands</h1>
<hr size=2 noshade>

This section describes how analog finds configuration commands, and what the
syntax of a configuration file should be. The syntax of individual commands is
given in the <cite><a href="quickref.html">Quick reference</a></cite> section
later.

<hr size=1 noshade>
When analog starts up, it first reads options from configuration files
and the command line (assuming that you are running analog from an operating
system with a command line). Defaults for many of these options will have
already been set in the files <kbd>anlghead.h</kbd> and <kbd>anlghea2.h</kbd>
at the time the program
was compiled. So if you compile your own version of analog, rather than
downloading a pre-compiled executable, you can also set some options in
those files before compiling. Those options are all documented there.

<hr size=1 noshade>
<a name="specialcfgs">The first file</a> which analog reads is the <i>default
configuration file</i>,
normally called <kbd>analog.cfg</kbd>. You can stop this file being read by
specifying the option <kbd>-G</kbd> on the command line. Then the command line
arguments are read, in the order in which they appear. Finally, the
<i>mandatory configuration file</i> is read, if you specified one when you
compiled the program. This is a configuration file which cannot be overridden
by the user: if it is not found, analog exits immediately. This allows a
system administrator to prevent users analysing certain files or producing
certain reports, for example. <i><strong>However</strong></i>, note that the
only certain way to prevent users analysing things is to deny them access to
the logfile. Otherwise there is nothing to stop them analysing the logfile
using another copy of analog or another program.

<hr size=1 noshade>
<a name="CONFIGFILE">You can include</a> another configuration file by a
command like
<pre>
CONFIGFILE other.cfg
</pre>
The commands in the other configuration file are read immediately, in order.
The program then continues reading the first configuration file where it left
off. Note that reading in several configuration files does <b>not</b> produce
several output pages, but a single output page based on all the options.
<p>
You can also include another configuration file from the command line by
using a command like <kbd>+gother.cfg</kbd>. (Note that there is no space
between <kbd>+g</kbd> and the filename; this is true of all command line
arguments.) But note that reading an alternative configuration file
does <b>not</b> stop the default configuration file (usually
<kbd>analog.cfg</kbd>) being read as well. To do that you have to specify
<kbd>-G</kbd> as well as the <kbd>+g</kbd> command. This is because if you want
several different configurations, it's most convenient to put all the common
options in <kbd>analog.cfg</kbd>, and options specific to each configuration
in a separate file. Then the <kbd>+g</kbd> command line option will read both
those files.

<p>
If the name of a configuration file given in a <kbd>CONFIGFILE</kbd> command
doesn't include a directory, it will be looked for wherever analog expects to
find its configuration files. (This location is a compile-time option.) For
example, in the Windows version it would be in the same folder as the analog
executable.
This applies to the default and mandatory configuration files as well.
But configuration files given with <kbd>+g</kbd> are relative to the current
directory at the time you run the program.

<p>
In the Mac version, you can start up a program with a particular configuration
file instead of the default one by dragging the configuration file onto the
analog icon. The file must start with "<kbd># </kbd>".

<p>
<a name="plusC">You can also</a> specify any configuration command on the
command line even if it
doesn't have a command line abbreviation, by use of the <kbd>+C</kbd> command.
(NB The <kbd>C</kbd> must be upper case.)
For example, <kbd>+C"UNCOMPRESS *.gz gzcat"</kbd> will include that command.

<hr size=1 noshade>
<a name="commandsyntax">Here are the syntax rules</a> for configuration
commands. A configuration file contains several commands, normally on separate
lines; any text after a hash (<kbd>#</kbd>) on a line is ignored as a comment.
Configuration commands can be continued across lines by using a backslash as
the last character on the line (but can't then have comments until the end of
all the lines; also the total length can't be more than 254 characters). 
Each command consists of the command name followed by one or two arguments. An
argument to a command may optionally be placed in single or double quotes or
parentheses, and it must be if the argument contains a hash or a space, or if
the last character of the last argument is a backslash. So, for
example, here are some valid configuration commands.
<pre>
DAILYSUM   OFF   # We don't want a Daily Summary
DAILYREP  "ON"   # We want a full Daily Report instead 
HOSTNAME (Spam Widgets Inc.)  # Spaces, so quotes or brackets needed
LOGFILE logfile1.log,\
logfile2.log     # This line and the previous one are one command
</pre>
Generally later commands override earlier ones if you can have only one of
that thing (e.g., for the <kbd>OUTFILE</kbd>), or supplement them
if you can have several (e.g., for the <kbd>LOGFILE</kbd>, because you can
read several logfiles). Apart from that, the order of commands doesn't matter,
except that <kbd><a href="logfmt.html">LOGFORMAT</a></kbd>
and <kbd><a href="output.html#TIMEOFFSET">LOGTIMEOFFSET</a></kbd>
commands must come earlier in the same configuration file than the
<kbd>LOGFILE</kbd> to which they refer.

<hr size=1 noshade>
<a name="settings">If all the options</a> seem a bit confusing, just run
<pre>
analog -settings [other options]
</pre>
from the command line,
or include <kbd>SETTINGS ON</kbd> in the configuration commands.
Then instead of running normally, analog will just tell you what the values of
all the variables will be, based on
the defaults in <kbd>anlghead.h</kbd> and <kbd>anlghea2.h</kbd>, the
configuration commands, and the
command line options. If you're on Unix or Windows, remember that you can send
the output to a file with
<pre>
analog -settings > file
</pre>
Also, <kbd>analog -version</kbd> will just give the version number.

<hr size=2 noshade>
Go to the <a href="http://www.analog.cx/">analog home page</a>.
<p>
<address>Stephen Turner
<br>19 December 2004</address>
<p><em>Need help with analog? <a href="mailing.html">Use the analog-help
mailing list</a>.</em>
<p>
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