Re Date variables in Xy III

[Patricia M Godfrey pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]

Thanks, Robert, that just fills the bill. I could not remember exactly
which files and STARTUP.INT commands were necessary for a minimal Xy4
setup and hadn't time to experiment. (Except that I wasted more time
trying to get III to do it...)

By the by, ES doesn't seem to be documented in either of TTG's manuals
(Command REf or Customication Guide); only in Tyson's book. I'm
pleasantly surprised that you allow direct writing to the file (e.g.,
@echo off
d:
if not exist d:\ mkdir d:\
chdir d:\).
I had originally done that, then got cold feet and thought good
programming practice required saving each and every string to a SG and
then GTing it in the file. And yes, error trapping in the batch file is a
good idea, and I might have gotten to it eventually.

The idea of using Xy to automate the writing of batch files (which Marc
and I apparently came up with independently; anyone else?) opens up all
sorts of possibilities.

One hopes that we will all save and consult Chris's, Carl's, and Robert's
recent postings on XPL variables, which offer an invaluable tutorial on
the subject.

Many, many thanks to all who offered suggestions.

Patricia