The $ZMESSAGE function returns a message string associated with a specified status code in the standard VMS error message format. The $ZMESSAGE function is analogous to the DCL F$MESSAGE lexical function.
The format for the $ZMESSAGE function is:
$ZM[ESSAGE](intexpr)
The integer expression specifies the status code for which $ZMESSAGE() returns error message text in the standard VMS error message format.
$ZMESSAGE() provides a tool for examining the message associated with a particular message code as reported in $ZSTATUS.
The standard VMS error message format is:
%FACILITY-S-IDENT, TEXT
Where:
% Identifies the first message issued for a given error. A hyphen (-) prefaces subsequent messages for the same error.
FACILITY Identifies the source of the error.
S Indicates one of five severity level indicators.
The indicators and their meanings are:
S Successful completion
I Information
W Warning
E Error
F Fatal or severe error
IDENT Represents an abbreviation of the message text.
TEXT Explains the message
The DCL command SET MESSAGE controls which message fields $ZMESSAGE() returns. By default, the VMS message facility returns all four fields.
The $ZSTATUS Intrinsic Special Variable holds the message code and the message of the last non-Direct Mode GT.M error. For more information on $ZSTATUS, refer "Intrinsic Special Variables".