#### 45.3.2 Command-line switch -o output

The DCL -o switch specifies an output file name (with or without path), or an output file extension:

-o file | Output file path or name, without extension. Applies only to the first input file name that follows this option. Overrides, for the next file name only, any –o .ext or –o path that appears earlier on the command line. The default is the same name as the input file name, but with the .ext extension provided as an argument to an earlier -o switch.
-o .ext | Output file extension, with leading period. Overrides default output file extensions. Applies to all following input file names on the command line until dcl encounters a new -o .ext. If no output type is specified via -t (see §45.3.5 Additional command-line switches), the default value for .ext depends on the value of the -f argument (see §45.3.1 Command-line switch -f format). The value must have a period as the first character. If the period is not present, ext is interpreted as a file name.

Default file extensions are as follows:

Output type | Default extension
HTML |
    .htm
RTF |
    .rtf
DCL |
    .dcl
XML | varies

XML is the only output type where you must specify -o .ext. Otherwise, some of your output files might get extension .htm.

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Parent Topic: 45.3 DCL command-line syntax

Sibling Topics:

45.3.1 Command-line switch -f format

45.3.3 Command-line argument input ...

45.3.4 Command-line switch -v

45.3.5 Additional command-line switches

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