.BG
.VE $Header: /usr3/s/current/s/.help/RCS/dget,v 1.2 83/12/30 19:27:35 rab Exp $
.FN dget
.TL
dget: Retrieve a General Structure from File
.CS
dget(file)
.PP
.AG file
character string giving file name to read from.  Default is
the standard input.
.PP
.RT
data structure corresponding to contents of `file'.
.PP
Normally, the file was created through the function `dput', possibly
so that the data could be transmitted from another user and/or
machine.  The form of the data is a list notation:
.PP
( name mode length value1 value2 ... )
.PP
where `name' is a character string, and there are `length' values.  In
the case of a vector (`mode' being REAL, INT LGL or CHAR), the values
are data of the corresponding mode. In the case of a hierarchical
structure `valuei' is itself a list of the same form.
In this case, the `mode' may be followed by the structure name.
.PP
Since the file is readable, one may edit the data on the file,
although keeping the file in legal form may not be trivial.
.SH SEE ALSO
`dput', `dump', and `restore'.
.EX
dget("copydata")
.KW basic*
.KW data management
.KW input
.KW read
.KW file
.WR
