35.3 DCL command-line syntax

A dcl command has the following syntax:

dcl [-t type] [-f format] [-o target] source ... [-v]

The arguments and their options have the following meanings:

-t type	Output type for the target file(s); see Table 35-1 for valid options. Each is the discriminator in the name of a DLL file. That is, Mif2Go loads dwxxx.dll, where xxx is the option value.
-f format	Output format; see Table 35-1 for valid format options.
-o target	Output file name, complete path, or file extension for converted files.
source ...	Input file name(s) or complete path(s); wildcards are acceptable. Surround each path (or file name, if you do not specify a path) with double quotes if the path or file name contains spaces; for example: dcl -t htm -fN "C:\My Documents\some.mif"
-v	Verbose: dcl reports, at the command prompt, everything it does.

Arguments can appear in any order, before the names of the source file(s) to which they apply. Case is not significant, and space is allowed between an argument and its option. For example, all the following are equivalent:

-thtm

-Thtm

-t htm

-T HTM

You can specify each argument zero or more times, and each option affects only the files named after it on the command line.

DCL command-line options are used primarily for these purposes:

• To select the input and output modules (DLLs) to use

• To determine the name and location of output file(s).

Most options represent settings you can also specify in the [Options] section of the mif2rtf.ini or mif2htm.ini configuration file. Command-line options and values override corresponding configuration-file settings. Table 35-1 lists the valid output -f format options for each -t type argument.

Table 35-1 DCL output type and format arguments and options

-t *type*	-f *format*	Description
rtf (default)	Rich Text Format; also MIF-only output
	W	Word 8/97 (default for -t rtf)
	7	Word 7/95
	P	WordPerfect
	H	WinHelp 4
	3	WinHelp 3
	F	FrameMaker MIF only
htm	HTML, HTML-based Help, XML; also ASCII DCL-only output
	N	Net generic HTML (default for -t htm)
	G	Generic XML
	X	XHTML 1.0
	M	Microsoft HTML Help
	Mb	Merge contents and index files for Microsoft HTML Help
	J	JavaHelp (Sun)
	Jb	Merge contents and index files for JavaHelp
	O	Oracle Help for Java
	Ob	Merge contents and index files for Oracle Help
	E	Eclipse Help
	Eb	Merge contents and index files for Eclipse Help
	C	Cross-platform OmniHelp
	A	ASCII DCL only
	D	DITA XML
	Db	Produce a book-level file for DITA after conversion
	B	DocBook XML
	Bb	Produce a book-level file for DocBook after conversion (provided DocBookRoot=book and chapter file extension = .ent)
inf	Document information format; see §35.4.1 Creating a document information file
dcb	Document Coding Language binary format; see §35.7.1 DCL file structure
dcl	Document Coding Language ASCII format; see §35.7.1 DCL file structure

The -o argument for output can specify a file name (with or without path), a folder name (with or without path), or a file extension:

-o file	Output file path or name. Applies only to the first source file name that follows this option. Overrides, for the next file name only, any -osuffix or -ofolder that appears earlier on the command line. The default is the same name as the source file name, but with the suffix extension.
-o dir	Output folder path or name. Applies to all following source file names on the command line until dcl encounters a new -o dir. The default is the current folder.
-o ext	Output file extension. Overrides dcl default output file extensions. Applies to all following source file names on the command line until dcl encounters a new -o ext. If no output format is specified via -t, the default value for ext is .rtf. The value for ext must have a period as the first character. If the period is not present, ext is interpreted as a file name.

> 35 Converting via DCL > 35.3 DCL command-line syntax

35.2.4 Converting a group of MIF or DCL files

35.4 Command-line examples