The general format of MUPIP commands is:

mupip command [-qualifier[...]] [object[,...]] [destination] 

MUPIP allows the abbreviation of commands and qualifiers. In each section describing a command or qualifier, the abbreviation is also shown (for example, B[ACKUP]). The abbreviated version of the command you can use on the command line is B. To avoid future compatibility problems and improve the readability, specify at least four characters when using MUPIP commands in scripts.

Although you can enter commands in both upper and lower case (the mupip program name itself must be in lower case on UNIX/Linux), the typographical convention used in this chapter is all small letters for commands. Another convention is in the presentation of command syntax. If the full format of the command is too long for a single line of print, the presentation wraps around into additional lines without any continuation characters, as in the actual entry of the commands there are no continuation characters. For example:

mupip backup -bytestream -transaction=1 accounts,history,tables,miscellaneous /var/production/backup/

When you enter a MUPIP command, one of its variable arguments is the region-list. region-list identify the target of the command and may include the UNIX wildcards "?" and "*". Region-lists containing UNIX wildcard characters must always be quoted, for example, "*" to prevent inappropriate expansion by the UNIX shell. Similarly, for file and directory names you might want to avoid non-graphic characters and most punctuations except underbars (_), not because of GT.M conventions but because of inappropriate expansion by UNIX shells.

MUPIP qualifier values are restricted only by the maximum size of the command input line, which is 4KB on some systems and upto 64KB on others.