Use GT.M with any UNIX shell as long as environment variables and scripts are consistently created for that shell. In this manual, UNIX examples are validated on Ubuntu Linux (Ubuntu Linux uses dash for /bin/sh).Examples in later chapters assume that an environment has been set up as described in the chapters Chapter 2: “Installing GT.M” and Chapter 3: “Basic Operations”.

FIS made a conscientious effort to present intuitive examples and related error messages that appear if a user tries those examples. However, due to environment and shell differences, you may occasionally obtain different results (although the differences should be relatively minor). Therefore, FIS suggests that you try the examples in a database environment that does not contain any valued information.

In M examples, an effort was made to construct examples where command lines did not wrap, in many cases using the argumentless DO.

The examples make frequent use of literals in an attempt to focus attention on particular points. In normal usage arguments are far more frequently variables.