1  Expression
   When you specify an expression, DCL evaluates values based on
   the operations specified in the expression. The values can be
   integers or character strings.

   Some expression operators are conventional mathematical
   symbols, for example, plus sign (+). Others specify logical
   and comparison operations, and consist of letters preceded and
   followed by periods; for example, .EQS. Operators are assigned a
   precedence that determines their order of evaluation. You can use
   parentheses to override this order.

   For additional information on specifying expressions, refer to
   the HP OpenVMS User's Manual. 
 

2  Arithmetic
   The operator with the highest precedence in an expression is
   evaluated first. Following this, the next highest operator is
   evaluated, and so on. Operators with the same precedence are
   evaluated from left to right, as they appear in the expression.
   
      Operator  Precedence Description
   
      *         6          Arithmetic multiplication
      /         6          Arithmetic division
      +         5          Arithmetic plus
      -         5          Arithmetic minus
      .EQ.      4          Arithmetic equal
      .GE.      4          Arithmetic greater than or equal
      .GT.      4          Arithmetic greater than
      .LE.      4          Arithmetic less than or equal
      .LT.      4          Arithmetic less than
      .NE.      4          Arithmetic not equal
      .NOT.     3          Logical NOT
      .AND.     2          Logical AND
      .OR.      1          Logical OR
 

2  String
   The operator with the highest precedence in an expression is
   evaluated first. Following this, the next highest operator
   precedence is evaluated, and so on. Operators with the same
   precedence are evaluated from left to right, as they appear in
   the expression.

      Operator Precedence Description

      +        5         String concatenation
      -        5         String reduction
      .EQS.    4         String equal
      .GES.    4         String greater than or equal
      .GTS.    4         String greater than
      .LES.    4         String less than or equal
      .LTS.    4         String less than
      .NES.    4         String not equal