[ncl-install] Pb calling scripts

[Rick Grubin]

Hi Gilles

> I have installed the last version of not OPeNDAP-enabled NCL  
> binaries (NCL 5.0.0 32-bit binary for i686 chips for LINUX,  
> compiled with gcc 3.x) on my Linux box and everything seems to work  
> fine except that  I can't run scripts.

The idiom for running scripts with NCL is to run them from the  
command line, as:

% ncl myScript.ncl

or

% ncl myScript

Strictly speaking, the ".ncl" tag is not necessary, but is commonly  
used to identify a file as containing NCL commands

> Here is the error message, essai.ncl being a script that I have no  
> trouble running line by line:
>
> ncl 0> ncl essai
> fatal:syntax error: line 0 before or near essai
> ncl essai
> --------^
>
> fatal:error in statement
>
> What did I do wrong?

Given that your script executes as desired when run line by line, try  
running it as described above, rather than from
within NCL, as you are doing.  Attempting to run your script from  
within NCL is not correct, as NCL is looking for
commands, just like the ones in your script.  The name of your script  
is not a command, thus the interpeter tells you
that's incorrect (command 'essai' is not part of the known syntax of  
commands).

If you want to make NCL aware of a functions or procedcures you've  
written in NCL, you can "load" that file within NCL:

ncl 0> load "myScript.ncl"

See:  http://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Document/Manuals/Ref_Manual/ 
NclStatements.shtml

Here's the relevant portion:

The load command is used to load external scripts from files. These  
external scripts can either be sets of functions and procedures or  
actual NCL programs. Currently, file_path must be a constant value;  
string expressions will generate syntax error messages. You can think  
of the load command as being analogous to the C #include statement.  
The load command executes immediately when it is encountered. It  
cannot be executed conditionally. The following is an example:

	load "file_path"

In order to conditionally load a script or use a string variable to  
reference a file path see the loadscript procedure.

(I just noticed that Mary also answered this question, but I'll send  
this anyway)

----	
Rick Grubin      NCAR/TDD/CISL/VETS
Visualization + Enabling Technologies
grubin at ucar.edu             303.497.1832