Editing DIGITAL Command Language (section)

{{Short description|Command language adopted by several operating systems (OSs)}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name                   = DIGITAL Command Language
| logo                   = 
| paradigm               = [[Imperative programming|imperative]]
| year                   = 
| screenshot             = Openvms-8.4-2L1-dcl.png
| screenshot caption     = OpenVMS Alpha V8.4-2L1, showing the DCL CLI in a terminal session
| designer               = [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]<ref name="language-1985">{{cite web|url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/handbook/VMS_Language_and_Tools_Handbook_1985.pdf|title=VAX/VMS Software Language and Tools Handbook|date=1985|access-date=2020-12-31|website=bitsavers.org}}</ref>
| developer              = VMS Software Inc. (VSI)<ref name="users-manual" />
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = 
| latest test version    = 
| latest test date       = 
| typing                 = 
| implementations        = 
| dialects               = 
| influenced by          = [[Concise Command Language|CCL]], [[RSX-11#Operation|MCR]]
| influenced             = [[Windows PowerShell]]
| operating system       = [[Interactive Application System|IAS]], [[RSTS/E]], [[RSX-11]], [[RT-11]], [[OpenVMS]], [[VAXELN]], [[DEC MICA|MICA]]
| license                = 
| website                =
}}

'''DIGITAL Command Language''' ('''DCL''') is the standard [[command language]] for many of the [[operating system]]s created by [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]. DCL was originally implemented for [[Interactive Application System|IAS]] as the Program Development System (PDS),<ref>{{cite book|title=IAS MCR User's Guide |url=https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/ias/v3.4/AA-H006C-TC_IAS_MCR_Users_Guide_199005.pdf |date=May 1990 |publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation}}</ref><ref name=DEChist75>{{cite book| title=DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION - Nineteen Fifty-Seven To The Present| url=http://s3data.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/dec.digital_1957_to_the_present_(1978).1957-1978.102630349.pdf |date=1975 |publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation}}</ref> and later added to [[RSX-11M]], [[RT-11]] and [[RSTS/E]], but took its most powerful form in VAX/VMS (later [[OpenVMS]]). DCL continues to be developed by VSI as part of OpenVMS.<ref name="vms-8.4-spd">{{cite web
 | url = https://vmssoftware.com/docs/VSI_OVMS_SPDQS_OS_V842L1I_UPD1.pdf
 | title = Software Product Description and QuickSpecs - VSI OpenVMS Version 8.4-2L1 for Integrity servers
 | publisher = VMS Software Inc.
 | date = July 2019
 | access-date = 2021-01-02
}}</ref>

DCL is a [[scripting language]] supporting several [[data type]]s, including strings, [[Integer (computer science)|integers]], [[bit]] arrays, [[Array (data type)|arrays]] and Booleans, but not [[floating-point arithmetic|floating point]] numbers. Access to [[OpenVMS]] ''system services'' ([[Kernel (operating system)|kernel]] [[API]]) is through lexical [[Function (computer programming)|functions]], which perform the same as their [[compiled language]] counterparts and allow scripts to get information on system state. DCL includes [[Conditional (computer programming)|IF-THEN-ELSE]], access to all the [[Record Management Services]] (RMS) file types including stream, indexed, and sequential, but lacks a [[While loop|DO-WHILE]] or other [[Program loop|looping]] construct, requiring users to make do with IF and [[GOTO]]-label statements instead.

DCL is available for other operating systems as well, including 
* VCL and VX/DCL for Unix, 
* VCL for [[MS-DOS]], [[OS/2]] and [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], 
* PC-DCL<ref>{{cite web | url=https://github.com/MichelValentin/PC-DCL | title=MichelValentin/PC-DCL | website=[[GitHub]] | date=29 May 2022 }}</ref> and [https://www.oneadvanced.com/siteassets/resources/application-modernization-collateral/advanced_fact_sheet_open_dcl.pdf Open DCL] for Windows/Linux
* and Accelr8 DCL Lite for Windows.<ref>{{cite web |title=Comparison of PC-DCL vs. Open DCL Lite
   |url=https://jonesrh.info/dcll/pcdcl_vs_dcll_comparison.html
   |quote=A comparison of Valentin's PC-DCL vs. Accelr8 Open DCL Lite}}</ref>

DCL is the basis of the [[XLNT]] language, implemented on Windows by an interpreter-IDE-WSH engine combination with CGI capabilities distributed by Advanced System Concepts Inc. from 1997.