Regina REXX under W/XP
Thompson, Steve
get used to drive some work under z/OS.
So I thought the best thing to do is write the REXX code to run under
Windows. So when I execute the code, REXX comes back and says:
Error 13 running "fully qualified path and file name", line 1: Invalid
character in program
Error 13.1 Invalid character in program "('ff'X)"
[Where "fully qualified path and file name" is the actual fully
qualified Window's file name]
I can not find any doc for "Error 13" (I have the manual for Regina REXX
printed and as a PDF). And I'm not seeing any odd characters in this
file (editing it with NOTEPAD).
Can anyone give me a clue as to where these errors are documented (I've
been to sourceforge, no joy. No joy with http://www.rexxla.org/ either).
Even better, what would cause this to think there is an X'FF' byte in
this record (the following is actually the first several records)?
/*
Read CONFIG files for QC and insert today's date as needed.
This initial area is to define all the things that must be
set up for the rest of the exec to work. In particular the
names of files and the "handle" to associate them with.
*/
Regards,
Steve Thompson
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Tony Harminc
> So I thought the best thing to do is write the REXX code to run under
> Windows. So when I execute the code, REXX comes back and says:
>
> Error 13 running "fully qualified path and file name", line 1: Invalid character in program
>
> Error 13.1 Invalid character in program "('ff'X)"
It's probably part of a Unicode Byte Order mark (BOM) X'FEFF' or
X'FFFE', which Notepad will not show you. How did you create/save the
file?
Tony H.
Scott
can make a program run and 'SAY' some jibberish on the screen?
I don't want to assume too much and I'm not trying to be patronizing :)
Are you opening a file inside the REXX? If so, how are you accessing that
file?
What are you using to edit the REXX program? What format is the file?
UTF-8 or ASCII? What line-endings did you specify? Windows uses CR+LF,
while UNIX uses LF, and z/OS uses steam-powered wooden cogs.
If none of my suggestions work, I suggest including (at least part of) your
code in a zip file, uploaded somewhere so we can download and inspect it.
Alternatively, you may smoke some peyote and speak to Cowlishaw's spirit for
the answers you seek.
Wait, he's still alive??
Scott
Thompson, Steve
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-...@bama.ua.edu] On
Behalf Of Tony Harminc
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 2:37 PM
To: IBM-...@bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: Regina REXX under W/XP
2010/1/4 Thompson, Steve <Steve_T...@stercomm.com>:
> So I thought the best thing to do is write the REXX code to run under
> Windows. So when I execute the code, REXX comes back and says:
>
> Error 13 running "fully qualified path and file name", line 1: Invalid
character in program
>
> Error 13.1 Invalid character in program "('ff'X)"
It's probably part of a Unicode Byte Order mark (BOM) X'FEFF' or
X'FFFE', which Notepad will not show you. How did you create/save the
file?
<SNIP>
I wrote it using TSO/ISPF. I then copied it via Windows (Copy/Paste
operation) into Notepad -- paying particular attention to NOT capturing
attribute bytes. Then I manually deleted all the follow-on bytes in
Notepad specifically to avoid any such issue.
McKown, John
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List
> Regards,
>
> Steve Thompson
Any chance that the file is UTF? If so, it might have a BOM (Byte Order Mark) as the first two (or 4) bytes of the file. The BOM is 'FFFE'x for a UTF-16 "little endian" UTF file. A BOM of 'FE0000'x is for UTF-32 "Little Endian" files. Windows is "Little Endian". IIRC, normal Windows programs know to look for and ignore BOMs.
http://unicode.org/faq/utf_bom.html#BOM
--
John McKown
Systems Engineer IV
IT
Administrative Services Group
HealthMarkets(r)
9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010
(817) 255-3225 phone * (817)-961-6183 cell
john....@healthmarkets.com * www.HealthMarkets.com
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM
Thompson, Steve
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 2:44 PM
To: IBM-...@bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: Regina REXX under W/XP
Just to be sure, you have written a REXX program for Windows before?
You
can make a program run and 'SAY' some jibberish on the screen?
<SNIP>
Yes, a few years ago using NT.
<SNIP>
I don't want to assume too much and I'm not trying to be patronizing :)
Are you opening a file inside the REXX? If so, how are you accessing
that
file?
<SNIP>
Yes, I am opening a file, but we haven't even gotten to the first line
of executable code, which is TRACE "I".
<snip>
What are you using to edit the REXX program? What format is the file?
UTF-8 or ASCII? What line-endings did you specify? Windows uses CR+LF,
while UNIX uses LF, and z/OS uses steam-powered wooden cogs.
<SNIP>
"(editing it with NOTEPAD)"
<SNIPPAGE>
Regards,
Steve Thompson
Scott
In the bottom pull-down box, is it ANSI or something else?
Rather than using your TRACE statement in the REXX code, just call regina
with the "-tI" flag. That should work, according to the documentation:
http://voxel.dl.sourceforge.net/project/regina-rexx/regina-documentation/3.3/regina33.pdf
Scott
Thompson, Steve
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-...@bama.ua.edu] On
Behalf Of McKown, John
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 2:46 PM
To: IBM-...@bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: Regina REXX under W/XP
> -----Original Message-----
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List
> [mailto:IBM-...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Thompson, Steve
> Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 2:29 PM
> To: IBM-...@bama.ua.edu
> Subject: Regina REXX under W/XP
>
> I am attempting to solve a problem I have with some special files that
> get used to drive some work under z/OS.
>
> So I thought the best thing to do is write the REXX code to run under
> Windows. So when I execute the code, REXX comes back and says:
>
> Error 13 running "fully qualified path and file name", line 1: Invalid
> character in program
>
> Error 13.1 Invalid character in program "('ff'X)"
<SNIPPAGE>
Any chance that the file is UTF?
<SNIP>
BINGO!
I went back to notepad and did a Save AS and it showed UNICODE. So I
changed it to ANSI and retried it and it took right off.
Thanx. I'd been battling this between meetings for most of the morning.
McKown, John
--
John McKown
Systems Engineer IV
IT
Administrative Services Group
HealthMarkets(r)
9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010
(817) 255-3225 phone * (817)-961-6183 cell
john....@healthmarkets.com * www.HealthMarkets.com
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM
Stocker, Herman
You may want to contact Mark Hessling directly, he is the person (last I
heard anyway) that maintains it:
Regina REXX Interpreter -- By Mark Hessling
email: hess...@lightlink.com
Regards,
Herman Stocker
It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.
-- Robert Heinlein
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf
Of Thompson, Steve
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 3:29 PM
To: IBM-...@bama.ua.edu
Subject: Regina REXX under W/XP
I am attempting to solve a problem I have with some special files that get
used to drive some work under z/OS.
So I thought the best thing to do is write the REXX code to run under
Windows. So when I execute the code, REXX comes back and says:
Error 13 running "fully qualified path and file name", line 1: Invalid
character in program
Error 13.1 Invalid character in program "('ff'X)"
[Where "fully qualified path and file name" is the actual fully qualified
Window's file name]
I can not find any doc for "Error 13" (I have the manual for Regina REXX
printed and as a PDF). And I'm not seeing any odd characters in this file
(editing it with NOTEPAD).
Can anyone give me a clue as to where these errors are documented (I've been
to sourceforge, no joy. No joy with http://www.rexxla.org/ either).
Even better, what would cause this to think there is an X'FF' byte in this
record (the following is actually the first several records)?
/*
Read CONFIG files for QC and insert today's date as needed.
This initial area is to define all the things that must be
set up for the rest of the exec to work. In particular the
names of files and the "handle" to associate them with.
*/
Regards,
Steve Thompson
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Shmuel Metz , Seymour J.
01/04/2010
at 02:46 PM, "McKown, John" <John....@HEALTHMARKETS.COM> said:
>Any chance that the file is UTF? If so, it might have a BOM (Byte Order
>Mark) as the first two (or 4) bytes of the file.
The BOM might legitimately be present for UCS-2, UCS-4 or UTF-16, but not
for UTF-8.
--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT
ISO position; see <http://patriot.net/~shmuel/resume/brief.html>
We don't care. We don't have to care, we're Congress.
(S877: The Shut up and Eat Your spam act of 2003)