Entering numerical ranges

The 7210 SAS CLI allows the use of a single numerical range as an argument in the command line. A range in a CLI command is limited to positive integers and is denoted with two numbers enclosed in square brackets with two periods (‟..”) between the numbers:

where x and y are positive integers and y-x is less than 1000.

For example, it is possible to shut down ports 1 through 10 in Slot 1 on MDA 1. A port is denoted with ‟slot/mda/port”, where slot is the slot number, mda is the MDA number and port is the port number. To shut down ports 1 through 10 on Slot 1 and MDA 1, the command is entered as follows:

configure port 1/1/[1..10] shutdown

Ctrl-C can be used to abort the execution of a range command.

Specifying a range in the CLI does have limitations. These limitations are described in the following table.

Table: CLI range use limitations
Limitation	Description
Only a single range can be specified.	It is not possible to shut down ports 1 through 10 on MDA 1 and MDA 2, as the command would look like `configure port 1/[1..2]/[1..10]` and requires two ranges in the command, [1..2] for the MDA and [1..10] for the port number.
Ranges within quotation marks are interpreted literally.	In the CLI, enclosing a string in quotation marks (`‟string”`) causes the string to be treated literally and as a single parameter. For example, several commands in the CLI allow the configuration of a descriptive string. If the string is more than one word and includes spaces, it must be enclosed in quotation marks. A range that is enclosed in quotes is also treated literally. For example, `configure router interface "A[1..10]" no shutdown` creates a single router interface with the name ‟A[1..10]”. However, a command such as: `configure router interface A[1..10] no shutdown` creates 10 interfaces with names A1, A2 .. A10.
The range cannot cause a change in contexts.	Commands should be formed in such a way that there is no context change upon command completion. For example, `configure port 1/1/[1..10]` will attempt to change ten different contexts. When a range is specified in the CLI, the commands are executed in a loop. On the first loop execution, the command changes contexts, but the new context is no longer valid for the second iteration of the range loop. A ‟Bad Command” error is reported and the command aborts.
Command completion may cease to work when entering a range.	After entering a range in a CLI command, command and key completion, which occurs by pressing the Tab or spacebar, may cease to work. If the command line entered is correct and unambiguous, the command works correctly; otherwise, an error is returned.