Comments

PIKT comments are in the C++ style.

The // double-slash character sequence, which can appear anywhere in a line, comments out the remainder of the line.

// comments are useful in a wide variety of situations.

For example, to demarcate a configuration section:

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// linux hostgroups

linux
        members         gentoo
                        redhat
                        suse

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

As another example, to comment script code:

        rule    // log anything not bypassed
                =output_alarm_log($inlin)

And another example, to suppress something (here, in a macro definition):

sysadmins       =berto =steve =mary // =charley    // charley is on vacation

And still another example, to bypass a PIKT #include file:

//#include <macros/files_pikt_log_macros.cfg>

The /* <text> */ sequence comments out everything between the opening /* and closing */.

For example, to comment out more than one configuration line:

/*
        rule    // page if the system is down
                if #down
                        =page("$system is down!", =sysadmins)
                endif
*/

Or to comment out an entire configuration section:

/*
#if piktmaster

Admin                   // for scripts aiding in the administration of the PIKT system

        timing          45 2 * * * // 1
        //timing        45 4 * * * 5

        mailcmd         "=mailx -a 'From: piktadmin'
                                -s 'PIKT Alert on =pikthostname: Admin' =pikt-admin"

        scripts         [...]

#endif  // piktmaster
*/

/* */ comments may not be nested. , That is, don't do something like this

/*
        rule    // for missioncritical systems, if state was "-", is now "+",
                // then report change
                if $state ne %state /* && " $missioncritical " =~ " $host " */
                        output mail "$host's (S) services are back up"
                fi
*/

since the */ at the end of the line

                if $state ne %state /* && " $missioncritical " =~ " $host " */

will close the comment begun just before the 'rule' statement, and the second */ (at the end of the example) will be left hanging, resulting in a syntax error.

Unless inside a /* */ comment, /* and */ after a // on the same line are ignored.

Use the backslash escape character, \, to suppress commenting when you need to incorporate PIKT comment character sequences in your configuration, as in this script input line

                input proc "for f in =logdir\/\*.log; do =echo -n '$f '; =tail -n 1 $f; done"

or as in this macro definition

piktdocroot     http:\/\/pikt.org/pikt

For purposes of suppressing commenting, you can also use the #fix ... #unfix preprocessor directives, as in

#fix
piktdocroot     http://pikt.org/pikt
#unfix

You might also try using the #verbatim preprocessor directive for this purpose.

Comments are especially useful for debugging syntax errors in your PIKT configuration. Try using // and/or /* */ comments to nullify lines or entire sections of the configuration. If your problem goes away, the fault is in the commented-out line(s) or section(s). Be sure not to nest /* */ comments when debugging configuration syntax errors in this fashion.

For many more comment examples, see Samples.

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