Getting started

SPECX is made available by typing:

% specxstart

and started by typing:

% specx 

The program will display the current version number and a brief informational message, then the SPECX prompt (») will appear.

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              Specx v6.7-6 (UNIX) ---- 15 December 1999
                   Copyright (C)  R.Padman & PPARC
             Acknowledgements to Horst Meyerdierks (PPARC)
                  Remo Tilanus & Tim Jenness (JACH)
            --------------------------------------------
        .
        .
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>>

Commands may then be entered to read and process data. SPECX commands consist of one or more keywords, separated by hyphens. Minimum matching is applied to each keyword individually. A full list of all valid SPECX commands may be found by entering show-commands, with a carriage return in response to the resulting prompt. On-line help is available using the command help. However, the on-line help is mainly a copy from the VMS VERSION 6.3. There are some added topics on the UNIX version.

A shell command may be executed by preceding it with a $, e.g.

>> $ls

The tab and blank characters, `,', `\' and `;' are SPECX delimiters; to pass these to the shell the entire string must be enclosed in single inverted commas, e.g.

>> '$ls -l scan*.dat'

The exit or quit commands are the normal method of returning to the shell. SPECX can also be suspended in the usual way with Control-Z and later resumed with the shell command fg.

In some situations SPECX has to be given an end-of-file character. On VMS this was Control-Z. On UNIX it is Control-D. As of V6.7-1 Control-C can be used to abort a command in progress.