val(1)                                                        val(1)


       NAME
             val - validate an SCCS file

       SYNOPSIS
             val -
             val [-s] [-rSID] [-mname] [-ytype] file ...

       DESCRIPTION
             val determines if the specified file is an SCCS file meeting
             the characteristics specified by the optional argument list.
             Arguments to val may appear in any order.  The arguments
             consist of keyletter arguments, which begin with a -, and
             named files.

             val has a special argument, -, which causes reading of the
             standard input until an end-of-file condition is detected.
             Each line read is independently processed as if it were a
             command line argument list.

             val generates diagnostic messages on standard error for each
             command line and file processed, and also returns a single 8-
             bit code on exit as described below.

             The keyletter arguments are defined as follows.  The effects
             of any keyletter argument apply independently to each named
             file on the command line.

             -s           The presence of this argument silences the
                          diagnostic message normally generated on standard
                          error for any error that is detected while
                          processing each named file on a given command
                          line.

             -rSID        The argument value SID (SCCS identification
                          string) is an SCCS delta number.  A check is made
                          to determine if the SID is ambiguous (for
                          example, -r1 is ambiguous because it physically
                          does not exist but implies 1.1, 1.2, and so on,
                          which may exist) or invalid (for example, r1.0 or
                          r1.1.0 are invalid because neither can exist as a
                          valid delta number).  If the SID is valid and not
                          ambiguous, a check is made to determine if it
                          actually exists.





                           Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 1

      val(1)                                                        val(1)


            -mname       The argument value name is compared with the SCCS
                         %M% keyword in file.

            -ytype       The argument value type is compared with the SCCS
                         %Y% keyword in file.

            The 8-bit code returned by val is a disjunction of the
            possible errors; it can be interpreted as a bit string where
            (moving from left to right) set bits are interpreted as
            follows:

                        bit 0 = missing file argument
                        bit 1 = unknown or duplicate keyletter argument
                        bit 2 = corrupted SCCS file
                        bit 3 = cannot open file or file not SCCS
                        bit 4 = SID is invalid or ambiguous
                        bit 5 = SID does not exist
                        bit 6 = %Y%, -y mismatch
                        bit 7 = %M%, -m mismatch

            val can process two or more files on a given command line and
            in turn can process multiple command lines (when reading the
            standard input).  In these cases an aggregate code is
            returned: a logical OR of the codes generated for each command
            line and file processed.

      FILES
            /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxepu
                  language-specific message file [See LANG on environ
                  (5).]

      REFERENCES
            admin(1), delta(1), get(1), help(1, prs(1)

      DIAGNOSTICS
            Use help(1) for explanations.

      NOTICES
            val can process up to 50 files on a single command line.









                          Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 2