Conventions for command line syntax

Last published : Jul 07, 2026
This topic describes the conventions for the command line syntax in this CLI section.
The conventions for CLI syntax are as follows:
  • Any parameter that is optional for the command syntax has a square bracket () around it. For example:
[-P] or [<rlink>]
  • Required command words and parameters for the command do not have square brackets around them. For example:
vxrlink or <rlink>
  • Command words and parameters that are typed as shown in the command syntax are displayed in the Courier bold font, for example:
    vxrlink make or [-P]
    -  Parameters that the user needs to specify are displayed in Courier Italic font and have angle brackets around them. For example, *< diskgroup_name>*. They are placeholders for information the user is required to specify.

    -  The pipe (|) character is a separator that allows two or more choices for a given parameter. The user can use any one of the choices for the command. For example,
    [-f | -c \<checkpoint\> | -a]
  • Help for any command is available if you type a hyphen followed by a question mark (-?) after the command. To view additional information about each of the parameters, type the command and the parameter followed by the -?. For example, vxrds addsec -? displays the information about the addsec parameter and the supported options.
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