User Commands

User commands are tools that are available at any time, in any workspace, as extensions to the Dyalog development environment.

New user commands are added periodically; see the end of this page for instructions on installing updates.

For additional information on user commands, see the User Commands User Guide.

Creating and Managing your own user commands: /video-library/watch?v=LWJzRGrOC3k

Basic Usage

User commands are invoked in an APL Session by starting an input line with a ] character. For example, the ]Boxing user command enables “boxed” output (and can be used to change other details of the way output is formatted):

      ]Boxing on
Was OFF
      'Hello' (1 2 3)
┌→────┬─────┐
│Hello│1 2 3│
└────→┴~───→┘

For a summary of the user command syntax, enter:

]Help (Dyalog v16.0 and earlier)
] (Dyalog v17.0 and later)

Dyalog-Supplied User Commands

For a list of the user commands available in your Session, enter ]?.

For example, in Dyalog v20.0:

      ]?
121 commands:                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                     
 APLAN         Editor  Output                                                                                        
 ARRAY         Compare  Edit                                                                                         
 CALC          Factors  FromHex  PivotTable  ToHex                                                                   
 DEVOPS        DBuild  DTest                                                                                         
 EXPERIMENTAL  Get                                                                                                   
 FILE          CD  Collect  Compare  Edit  Find  Open  Replace  Split  ToLarge  ToQuadTS  Touch                      
 FN            Align  Calls  Compare  Defs  DInput  Latest  ReorderLocals                                            
 IT            Axis  Function  Left  PAxis  PFunction  PLeft  PRight  Result  Right                                  
 LINK          Add  Break  Configure  Create  Export  Expunge  GetFileName  GetItemName  Import  Refresh  Resync     
               Status  Stop  Trace                                                                                   
 MSWIN         Assemblies  Caption  CopyReg  FileAssociations  GUIProps  KeyPress                                    
 NS            ScriptUpdate  Summary  Xref                                                                           
 OUTPUT        Box  Boxing  Disp  Display  Find  Format  HTML  Layout  Plot  Repr  Rows  View                        
 PERFORMANCE   Profile  RunTime  SpaceNeeded                                                                         
 SALT          Boot  Clean  Compare  List  Load  Refresh  RemoveVersions  Save  Set  Settings  Snap                  
 TOOLS         Activate  ADoc  APLCart  Calendar  Chart  Config  Deactivate  Demo  Help  ListActivated  Version      
 TRANSFER      In  Out                                                                                               
 UCMD          UDebug  ULoad  UMonitor  UNew  UReset  USetup  UVersion                                               
 WS            Check  Compare  Document  FindRefs  FnsLike  Locate  Map  Names  NamesLike  Nms  ObsLike  Peek  SizeOf
               VarsLike

Updates to Dyalog-supplied User Commands

Dyalog includes many pre-installed user commands as part of SALT (the Simple Array Library Toolkit).

NOTE: SALT supports the use of APL text-based source files, but has since been superseded for this purpose by Link. See the history of source files as text in Dyalog in the Link User Guide for more information. However, it remains the foundation of the user command framework.

Updates to SALT and the pre-installed user commands are provided as .zip files (specific to each Dyalog version):

APL Version	Date of Latest Update	Download File
14.0, 14.1 and 15.0	2017-08-22	salt_140-150.zip
16.0	2018-04-23	salt_160.zip
17.0	2021-06-21	salt_170.zip
17.1 and 18.0	2021-11-03	salt_171-180.zip
18.2	2022-03-10	salt_182.zip

For earlier versions of Dyalog, please contact support@dyalog.com.

To update SALT and the Dyalog-supplied user commands in your installation:

Identify the [DYALOG] installation directory by entering the following in a Dyalog Session:
```
⎕←2 ⎕NQ # 'GetEnvironment' 'DYALOG'
```
Download the appropriate .zip file from the table above.
Install the contents of the .zip file to the [DYALOG] installation directory:
- On Microsoft Windows:
  1. Extract the contents of the .zip file to a temporary directory.
  2. Copy the newly-extracted SALT directory (with its files and subdirectores) to the [DYALOG] installation directory. If prompted, you should overwrite/replace existing files and directories. This might need administrator privileges.
- On Linux/macOS:
  1. Open a terminal window and enable root permissions.
  2. Change directory to the [DYALOG] installation directory.
  3. Unzip the downloaded .zip file to this directory.
In a Dyalog session, run the ]UReset user command to ensure that that all cached user command-related information has been updated.