There are several ways to invoke the interactive NCL utility:

    1. Enter ncl at the shell prompt. The NCL prompt appears:

       % ncl <Return>
       ncl>

    2. Enter an NCL command line.

       % ncl any ncl command <Return>

       After the command executes, you return to the shell.

    3. Redirect a command script into NCL.

       % ncl <scripta

       where scripta is the name of a script that contains a sequence
       of NCL commands.

    4. Execute a shell script containing NCL commands. Your shell
       script can use the exit status returned by NCL commands.

       % ncl_filename

       The following C shell script demonstrates this:

       #!/bin/csh

       ncl show routing circuit circuit-1 all attributes
       if ( $status != 0 ) then
        echo ""
        echo "This ncl command failed."
        echo ""
       endif

       This sample script uses the exit status from an NCL command
       to determine whether or not to echo a message. If the command
       fails, the shell script echoes the message.

    Other NCL operations include:

    o  To abort an NCL operation, press <Ctrl/C> at the ncl> prompt.

    o  To continue a long command to the next line, use a hyphen as
       the last character in the line. The _ncl> prompt is displayed
       on continuation lines:

       ncl> set node moosie routing manual network entity titles -
       _ncl> { 49::00-0c:08-00-2b-12-34-56:00, -
       _ncl>   49::00-0c:08-00-2b-12-34-57:00 }

    o  To include comments in NCL shell scripts or as part of a
       command line in the interactive utility, use the exclamation
       point (!) or pound sign (#) character. NCL ignores hyphens
       within and at the end of a comment line.

    o  To exit from NCL, enter exit, quit, or press <Ctrl/D> at the ncl>
       prompt.