How to Edit a text from the output in DCL -- OpenVMS scripting - scripting

Question

I wrote the below code, which will extract the directory name along with the file name and I will use purge command on that extracted Text.
$ sear VAXMANAGERS_ROOT:[PROC]TEMP.LIS LOG/out=VAXMANAGERS_ROOT:[DEV]FVLIM.TXT
$ OPEN IN VAXMANAGERS_ROOT:[DEV]FVLIM.TXT
$ LOOP:
$ READ/END_OF_FILE=ENDIT IN ABCD
$ GOTO LOOP
$ ENDIT:
$ close in
$ ERROR=F$EXTRACT(0,59,ABCD)
$ sh sym ERROR
$ purge/keep=1 'ERROR'
The output is as follows:
ERROR = "$1$DKC102:[PROD_LIVE.LOG]DP2017_TMP2.LIS;27392 "
Problem here is --- Every time the directory length varies (Length may be 59 or 40 or some other value, but the directory and filename length will not exceed 59 characters in my system). So in the above output, the system is also fetching the Version number of that file number. So I am not able to purge the file along with the version number.
%PURGE-E-PURGEVER, version numbers not permitted
Any suggestion -- How to eliminate the version number from the output ?
I cannot use the exact length of the directory, as directory length varies everytime.... :(

Answer 1

The answer with F$ELEMENT( 0, ";", ABCD ) should work, as confirmed. I might script something like this:
$ ERROR = F$PARSE(";",ERROR) ! will return $1$DKC102:[PROD_LIVE.LOG]DP2017_TMP2.LIS;
$ ERROR = ERROR - ";"
$ PURGE/KEEP=1 'ERROR'
Not sure why you have the read loop. What you will get is the last line in the file, but assuming that's what you want.

Answer 2

While HABO explained it, some more explanations
Suppose I use f$search to check if a file exists
a = f$search("sys$manager:net$server.log")
then I find I it exists
wr sys$output a
shows
SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSMGR]NET$SERVER.LOG;9
From the help of f$parse I get
help lex f$parse arg
shows, among other things
`Specifies a character string containing the name of a field
in a file specification. Specifying the field argument causes
the F$PARSE function to return a specific portion of a file
specification.
Specify one of the following field names (do not abbreviate):
NODE Node name
DEVICE Device name
DIRECTORY Directory name
NAME File name
TYPE File type
VERSION File version number`
So I can do
wr sys$output f$parse(a,,,"DEVICE")
which shows
SYS$SYSROOT:
and also
wr sys$output f$parse(a,,,"DIRECTORY")
so I get
[SYSMGR]
and
wr sys$output f$parse(a,,,"NAME")
shows
NET$SERVER
and
wr sys$output f$parse(a,,,"TYPE")
shows
.LOG
the version is
wr sys$output f$parse(a,,,"VERSION")
shown as
;9
The lexicals functions can be handy, check it using
help lexical
it shows
F$CONTEXT F$CSID F$CUNITS F$CVSI F$CVTIME F$CVUI F$DELTA_TIME F$DEVICE F$DIRECTORY F$EDIT
F$ELEMENT F$ENVIRONMENT F$EXTRACT F$FAO F$FID_TO_NAME F$FILE_ATTRIBUTES F$GETDVI F$GETENV
F$GETJPI F$GETQUI F$GETSYI F$IDENTIFIER F$INTEGER F$LENGTH F$LICENSE F$LOCATE F$MATCH_WILD
F$MESSAGE F$MODE F$MULTIPATH F$PARSE F$PID F$PRIVILEGE F$PROCESS F$READLINK F$SEARCH
F$SETPRV F$STRING F$SYMLINK_ATTRIBUTES F$TIME F$TRNLNM F$TYPE F$UNIQUE F$USER