Places a process into a wait state for the specified amount of time. The WAIT command is used in a command procedure to delay processing of either the procedure itself or a set of commands in the procedure. Format WAIT delta-time
1 – Parameter
delta-time Specifies a delta time interval in the following format. (A delta time is an offset from the current time to a time in the future.) hour:minute:second.hundredth The fields on the format line indicate the following: hour Specifies an integer in the range 0 to 23. minute Specifies an integer in the range 0 to 59. second Specifies an integer in the range 0 to 59. hundredth Specifies an integer in the range 0 to 99. The colons (:) and period (.) are required delimiters; also, the delta time must begin with the number of hours and not a colon. Note that the days field, usually included in the delta time format, must be omitted here. For more information on specifying delta time values, see the OpenVMS User's Manual or the online help topic Date. Note that if you enter the WAIT command interactively, you are not prompted for a time value; however, in order for the command to have any effect, you must supply a time value.
2 – Example
$ LOOP: $ RUN KUDOS $ WAIT 00:10 $ GOTO LOOP In this example, the command procedure executes the program image KUDOS. After the RUN command executes the program, the WAIT command delays execution of the GOTO command for 10 minutes. Note that 00 is specified for the number of hours, because the time specification cannot begin with a colon. After 10 minutes, the GOTO command executes, and the procedure transfers control to the label LOOP and executes the program KUDOS again. The procedure loops until it is interrupted or terminated. If the procedure is executed interactively, terminate it by pressing Ctrl/C or Ctrl/Y and by entering the STOP command or another DCL command that runs a new image in the process. If the procedure is executed in a batch job, enter the DELETE/ENTRY command to terminate it.