Line continuation

It is possible to specify an environment variable in an environment file (default.env or .hidefaults) over multiple lines using the line continuation character `\'. The following listing shows using multiple lines for an environment variable.

Listing: Using multiple lines for an environment variable


ASMOPTIONS=\
           -W2\

           -WmsgNe=10

The above listing is the same as the alternate source code in the following listing.

Listing: Alternate form of using multiple lines


ASMOPTIONS=-W2 -WmsgNe=10

But this feature may be dangerous when used together with paths, as following listing shows:

Listing: A path is included by the line continuation character


GENPATH=.\
TEXTFILE=.\txt

will result in

GENPATH=.TEXTFILE=.\txt

To avoid such problems, we recommend that you use a semicolon (;) at the end of a path if there is a backslash (\) at the end, as the following listing shows:

Listing: Recommended style whenever a backslash is present


GENPATH=.\;
TEXTFILE=.\txt