On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 11:20:10 +0100, John wrote: >pipe literal | spec string 1-1 1 | cons >-
This works as far back as z/VM 4.4.0 (and did any of us ever notice?). That's why I'm confused about what you're "introducing" now. >Yes, |specs #1:=1 print #1| is what I have in mind. If you're telling >me it is a bad idea, I shall desist. I haven't come up with a case yet that's actually a valid spec today, but I think someone who accidentally left out an output column like that would be pretty astonished to have his pipeline run without errors and then find the string "1:=1 print " pasted over the front of all his records. (If you ever added the convenience of filling in a default output column for any spec whose last item was a field, rather than just a single item, then this case would become ambiguous.) ¬R "People late for work only deal with the essentials, cutting away uneccesary tasks like Occam's Razor with no time to shave." --oTTo--Bahn