The DEFINE command begins a pattern. It identifies the pattern in its autoaction database by its group name and pattern number. AMS run-time diagnostic messages use the combination of group-name and pattern-number to refer to a particular pattern. If a pattern with the same group name and pattern number already exists in the database, ADBM/BADB replaces the pattern. If you do not specify a pattern number, ADBM/BADB assigns the next available number in the group. Each pattern, whether you are creating a new one or updating an existing one, must begin with a DEFINE command.
Format
DEFINE "group-name" [pattern-number]
where:
is the identifier of the group associated with the pattern. You must enclose it within quotation marks (" ").
You can group together related patterns for reporting purposes to support the needs of your site. The groups you define have no effect on pattern matching.
You must specify each group name as a string of 1 to 12 ASCII characters. The name can contain any printable ASCII character except an embedded space or a backslash. AMS removes leading and trailing spaces. You can include a maximum of 256 groups in a database. A blank or null group name is not allowed. Characters in the group-name are case sensitive.
is a unique integer (between 1 and 32767) within the group. If a pattern with the same group name and pattern number already exists in the database, BADB replaces it. If you do not specify a pattern number, BADB assigns the next available integer in the group.
ADBM and BADB do not reassign a previously assigned number that was freed through deletion. You must assign explicit pattern numbers to reuse numbers freed through deletion.
Examples
This example defines or replaces a pattern with pattern number 20 in group eastsite:
DEFINE "eastsite" 20
In this example, ADBM or BADB adds a new pattern to the group xyz123 and automatically assigns the next available pattern number:
DEFINE "xyz123"