search_path

directory paths

specifies a list of directories to search, in the order listed, for object or file retrieval. these directories, along with the current (working) directory and any directories specified in the search.profile make up pro/engineerM-^Rs search path.

the directory paths can be relative or absolute. you can use special characters, such as ".." in unix and windows, in specifying a relative path name.

relative path names are initially resolved relative to the startup directory. if you subsequently reload the configuration file, the system reevaluates the paths relative to the current (working) directory and appends the new directories, if any, to the search path (the previous path remains in place). therefore, specify the full paths to avoid problems if you change the working directory or use the same configuration file in another startup directory.

the option can have several paths on a single line separated by commas, semicolons, or spaces. use consistently the delimiter you choose. the option can appear any number of times in the configuration file. it is, therefore, not necessary to have more than one path to a line. if objects with the same name are stored in more than one search path, the system retrieves the first one that it finds, regardless of the object that is the most recent.

search paths can also include previously-defined environment variables. begin the variable with $ in the search-path definition. for example, the environment variable obj_typeis used as follows:

search_path /partlib/$obj_type/objs

when defining a search path in the windows operating system, precede the backslash with another formatting character.