htp on-line reference : Default files

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  Introduction
  Usage
  Files
   Creating htp files
   Default files
   Templates
  Concepts
  HTP Tags
  History
  Wish list
  Bugs

A default file can be specified for htp to consult prior to processing any files. This would be handy for setting options and a file search path. Common macros can be set as well.

At program start, htp will look for an environment variable called HTPDEF. This variable should be set to a specific file. htp will load in this file and process it like any other, except that htp will not generate any output from it. In other words, it will only cull macros, options, and other settings. Plain text and other HTML markups will be ignored.

htp will then search the current directory for a file named htp.def. This file is also processed like the HTPDEF file. The difference in these two files is subtle but important. The former, called the global default file, should be used to set options and macros applicable to all HTML projects you might be undertaking. Good macro declarations for this file are names and email addresses. A file search path could also be placed here.

The htp.def file, called the project default file, should be used per project. That is, if you organize your HTML file groups in separate directories, each directory could have it's own project default file with settings and macros particular to that project. Template files should probably be placed in this file.

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htp on-line reference / http://htp.sourceforge.net/ref/
Authors: Jim Nelson, Jochen Hoenicke, Michael Möller.
Maintainers: Jochen Hoenicke, Michael Möller.

Copyright © 1995-96 Jim Nelson.
Copyright © 2001-2002 Jochen Hoenicke, Michael Möller.
Permission to reproduce and distribute this hypertext document granted according to terms described in the Introduction

last updated Mon May 27, 2002