6.1 Design element access and output commands
6.2 General commands
6.3 Control and navigation commands
6.4 External I/O and integration commands
6.5 String and number commands
6.6 Representation commands
6.7 Hints and tips
6.8 Quick reference
6.9 Syntax

6 MERL Reference

This chapter provides a command reference for the MetaEdit Reporting Language (MERL). If you are just getting started with generators in MetaEdit+, you would be better served by the introduction to the language and tools in Section 5.1 above. To get up to speed and find how to do things in MERL, please see the MERL Primer in 5.2 above.

The MERL commands are divided into several categories (corresponding to those in the Concept Box at the top center of the Generator Editor):

	6.1: access design elements by type names, retrieve information from them to output
	6.2: basic fixed commands for output (id, type etc.) and generator header syntax
	6.3: control and navigation commands: if, do, filtering, subgenerators
	6.4: writing to and from files, executing programs and internal commands, prompting
	6.5: variables, string translation, arithmetic
	6.6: outputting positions and other representation information, using visual containment

These are followed by Hints and tips, a Quick reference that is useful for an overview or if you know the command and want to find where it is described, and a BNF Syntax of MERL.