helpdate(1)
NAME
ckdate, errdate, helpdate, valdate - prompts for and vali-
dates a date
SYNOPSIS
ckdate [-Q] [-W width] [-f format] [-d default] [-h help]
[-e error] [-p prompt] [ -k pid [-s signal]]
/usr/sadm/bin/errdate [-W width] [-e error] [-f format]
/usr/sadm/bin/helpdate [-W width] [-h help] [-f format]
/usr/sadm/bin/valdate [-f format] input
DESCRIPTION
The ckdate utility prompts a user and validates the
response. It defines, among other things, a prompt message
whose response should be a date, text for help and error
messages, and a default value (which will be returned if the
user responds with a <RETURN>). The user response must
match the defined format for a date.
All messages are limited in length to 70 characters and are
formatted automatically. Any white space used in the defini-
tion (including newline) is stripped. The -W option cancels
the automatic formatting. When a tilde is placed at the
beginning or end of a message definition, the default text
will be inserted at that point, allowing both custom text
and the default text to be displayed.
If the prompt, help or error message is not defined, the
default message (as defined under NOTES) will be displayed.
Three visual tool modules are linked to the ckdate command.
They are errdate (which formats and displays an error mes-
sage), helpdate (which formats and displays a help message),
and valdate (which validates a response). These modules
should be used in conjunction with FML objects. In this
instance, the FML object defines the prompt. When format is
defined in the errdate and helpdate modules, the messages
will describe the expected format.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-d default
Defines the default value as default. The default
does not have to meet the format criteria.
-e error
Defines the error message as error.
-f format
Specifies the format against which the input will be
verified. Possible formats and their definitions are:
%b = abbreviated month name (jan, feb, mar)
%B = full month name %d = day of month (01 - 31)
%D = date as %m/%d/%y (the default format)
%e = day of month (1 - 31; single digits are preceded
by a blank)
%h = abbreviated month name, identical to %b%
%m = month number (01 - 12)
%y = year within century (for instance, 89)
%Y = year as CCYY (for instance, 1989)
-h help
Defines the help messages as help.
-k pid
Specifies that process ID pid is to be sent a signal
if the user chooses to abort.
-p prompt
Defines the prompt message as prompt.
-Q Specifies that quit will not be allowed as a valid
response.
-s signal
Specifies that the process ID pid defined with the -k
option is to be sent signal signal when quit is
chosen. If no signal is specified, SIGTERM is used.
-W width
Specifies that prompt, help and error messages will be
formatted to a line length of width.
OPERANDS
The following operand is supported:
input Input to be verified against format criteria.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful execution.
1 EOF on input, or negative width on -W option, or
usage error.
3 User termination (quit).
4 Garbled format argument.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
attributes(5)
NOTES
The default prompt for ckdate is:
Enter the date [?,q]:
The default error message is:
ERROR - Please enter a date. Format is <format>.
The default help message is:
Please enter a date. Format is <format>.
When the quit option is chosen (and allowed), q is returned
along with the return code 3. The valdate module will not
produce any output. It returns zero for success and non-
zero for failure.
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