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Writing Macros

You must write macros on your computer, not on the E-series router. The macros can contain loops, variables, string and numeric values, and conditional statements. Macros can invoke other macros (as long as they are contained within the same macro file), including themselves, but infinite recursion is not permitted. Macros are case-insensitive.

Macros consist of control expressions and noncontrol expressions. Control expressions are enclosed by control brackets, which are angle-bracket and number sign pairs, like this: <# controlExpression #>. Examples of control expressions include the macro name and macro end statements, and while loops. A control expression can include multiple operation statements if you separate the statements with semicolons (;). For example:

<# i:=0; while i++ < 3 #>

All macros must have names consisting only of letters, numbers, and the underline character (_). The first character of a macro name cannot be a number. If you include more than one macro within a macro file, each macro must have a unique name. The first line of a macro defines the macro’s name:

<# macroName #>

Noncontrol expressions are not enclosed by control brackets and simply become part of the generated CLI command text.

You must end all macros with the following control expression:

<# endtmpl #>

You can add comments to your control expressions to clarify the code by prefacing the comment with forward slashes (//) inside the control brackets:

<# endtmpl //A comment in the macro end expression #>

Text after the // is ignored when the macro is run and is not displayed by the CLI.

You can also add comments outside the control expressions by prefacing the comment with an exclamation point (!). The CLI displays these comments if you use the test or verbose keywords with the macro command; the CLI never interprets these comments as commands.

!This is a comment outside any control expression

You can improve the readability of a macro by using tabs to indent expressions. Leading and trailing tabs have no effect on the macro output, because they are removed when the macro is run.

Example

The following is a simple macro that you can use to configure the IP interface on the Fast Ethernet port of the SRP module after you have restored the factory defaults:

<# ipInit #>
<# ipAddress := env.getline (“ IP Address of System?” ) #>
ena
conf t
int f0/0
ip addr <# ipAddress; ‘\n’ #>
ip route 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
host pk 10.10.0.166 ftp
<# endtmpl #>

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