This Amiga ARexx manual carries the copyright:

Copyright (c) 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Hyperion Entertainment. All rights reserved.

and it is placed here for our personal usage as well as preserving the documents in case they may at some point in time vanish from the Internet.

ARexx, the Amiga counterpart of the IBM REXX programming language, provides the freedom to customize your work environment. It is especially useful as a scripting language which allows you to control and modify applications and to direct how they interact with each other.

This manual introduces you to ARexx, tells you how to create ARexx programs and provides a reference section of ARexx commands.

• Chapter 1. Introducing ARexx This chapter gives an overview of ARexx, how it works on the Amiga, and the basic features of the programming language.
• Chapter 2. Getting Started This chapter tells you where to store your ARexx programs, how to execute an ARexx program, and provides several programming examples.
• Chapter 3. Elements of ARexx This chapter details the rules and concepts that make up the ARexx programming language.
• Chapter 4. Instructions This chapter contains an alphabetical listing of ARexx instructions, which are language statements that dictate an action.
• Chapter 5. Functions This chapter describes the use of functions, which are program statements used by ARexx, and provides an alphabetical listing of the built-in ARexx functions.
• Chapter 6. Debugging This chapter focuses on the source-level debugging features used in the development and testing of programs.
• Chapter 7. Parsing This chapter explains how to extract patterns of information from strings.
• Chapter 8. WB-ARexx-Port This chapter explains how to use the Workbench ARexx port.
• Appendix A. Error Messages This appendix lists the ARexx error messages.
• Appendix B. Command Utilities This appendix lists the ARexx commands that can be run from the Shell.
• Appendix C. Special Variables This appendix lists the ARexx special variables.
• Glossary The glossary contains common ARexx terms.

The following conventions are used in this manual:

• KEYWORDS - Keywords are displayed in all uppercase letters, however, the arguments are case-insensitive.
• | (vertical bar) - Alternative selections are separated by a vertical bar.
• { } (braces) - Required alternatives are enclosed by braces.
• [ ] (brackets) - Optional instruction parts are enclosed in brackets.
• <n> - Variables are displayed in angle brackets. Do not enter the angle brackets when entering the variable.
• Courier - Text appearing in the Courier font represents output from your ARexx programs or other information that displays on your screen.
• Key1 + Key2 - Key combinations displayed with a plus sign (+) connecting them indicates pressing the keys simultaneously.
• Key1, Key2 - Key combinations displayed with a comma sign (,) separating them indicates pressing the keys in sequence.
• Amiga keys - Two keys on the Amiga keyboard used for special functions. The left Amiga key is to the left of the space bar and is marked with a large solid A. The right Amiga key is to the right of the space bar and is an outlined A.

Further information on learning and using ARexx can be found in:

• Modern Programming Using REXX , by R.P. O'Hara and D.G. Gomberg, Prentice-Hall, 1985
• The REXX Language: A Practical Approach to Programming , by M.F. Cowlishaw, Prentice-Hall, 1985.
• Programming in REXX , J. Ranade IBM Series, by Charles Daney.
• Using ARexx on the Amiga , by Chris Zamara and Nick Sullivan, Abacus, 1991.