ns - Name stacks directory				Matthew Miller & MWP


EXAMPLES:
ns "STACKS"		set the current foreground directory to
			"STACKS" and create it if it does not exist
ns "STACKS" dt:		set the current background directory to
			"STACKS" and create it if it does not exist
ns "./stacks"		set the foreground directory to "stacks" in the
			current directory even if another default path
			is in effect.
ns p:			Print the name and last stack of the open directories.
ns cl:			Close directory one, and set current dir to background
ns cl:dt:		Close directory two, and set current dir to foreground 
ns "STACKS" t:		If STACKS exists, open it and set .test to 1, otherwise
			just set .test to 0.
ns "STACKS" q:		If STACKS exists, open it, otherwise create it without
			asking.

DESCRIPTION:
Ns is used to name the current foreground directory and the current
background directory.  If 'dt:' is not used, then the current foreground
directory is set to "STACKS".  If 'dt:' is used, then the current background
directory is set to "STACKS".

A default stacks path will be set up when comb is started if you have
defined and exported the environment variable LSTACKS.
It may also be set or changed with the sp: option in the 'op' command.
In either case if this path is defined and a stacks name not beginning
with '/' or '.' is used, the default path will be prepended to
the name that you give.

If "STACKS" does not exist there are 3 possibilities:

1)  By default you will be asked if you really want to create a new
stacks directory (as opposed to having made a typo).  If you agree, it
is created for you.

2)  If you had set the t: flag in the ns command, the variable .test
will be set to 0 and the new directory will not be created.  When the
t: flag is set and the stacks directory exists, .test is set to 1.

3)  If you had set the q: flag in the ns command, the new stacks directory
will be silently created.

The foreground and background directories are used for convenience.
They are always the last name used for them (i.e. the foreground
directory is the last name used without the 'dt' flag, and the
background directory is the one used with the 'dt' flag.)  Em, st, rt
and lk may access either the foreground directory or the background
directory (foreground by default).  Some other commands may only access
the foreground directory .

The data, index, and search files may now be made readonly and still
opened by comb.  This will prevent accidental modification by both comb
and other unix processes.  It is recommended that any stacks which you
aren't actively changing have data, index, and search made readonly.
Macro and defaults files should probably be left writable during data
analysis.  If data or index is readonly, but search writable, up
will remove the old search, but be unable to finish the job.  The
recovery from this is to make data and index writable while running up.
(This is not nice behavior, but would be too hard to fix.)

This document was last updated on Tue Oct 17 16:24:05 EDT 2000 by Marc W. Pound.