V1/man/man1/form.1

        11/3/71                                                      FORM (I)


NAME              form -- form letter generator

SYNOPSIS          form proto arg1 ...

DESCRIPTION       form generates a form letter from a prototype letter, an
                  associative memory, arguments and in a special case, the
                  current date.

                  If form is invoked with the argument x, the following
                  files come into play:

                     x.f prototype input
                     x.r form letter output
                     x.am associative memory
                     form.am associative memory if x.am not found.

                  Basically, form is a copy process from the file x.f to the
                  file x.r. If an element of the -form \n (where n is a digit
                  from 1 to 9) is encountered, The nth argument is inserted
                  in its place, and that argument is then rescanned. If \0 is
                  encountered, the current date is inserted. If the desired
                  argument has not been given, a message of the form "\n:" is
                  typed. The response typed in then is used for that
                  argument.

                  If an element of the form [name] is encountered, the name
                  is looked up in the associative memory. If it is found,
                  the contents of the memory under this name replaces the
                  original element (again rescanned.) If the name is not
                  found, a message of the form "name: " is typed. The
                  response typed in is used for that element. If the
                  associative memory is writable, the response is entered in
                  the memory under the name. Thus the next search for that
                  name will succeed without interaction.

                  In both of the above cases, the response is typed in by
                  entering arbitrary text terminated by two new lines. Only
                  the first of the two new lines is passed with the text.
                  The process is instantly terminated if an end of file is
                  encountered anywhere except in the associative memory.

FILES             x.f                   input file
                  x.r                   output file
                  x.am                  associative memory
                  form.am               associative memory

SEE ALSO          type

DIAGNOSTICS       "settup error" when the appropriate files cannot be
                  located or created.

BUGS              "settup" is misspelled.
11/3/71              FORM (I)


OWNER     rhm, ken