The MPE/iX environment typically uses FILE.GROUP.ACCOUNT syntax for specifying files and directories. With ACUCOBOL-GT, you can also use Hierarchical File System (HFS) syntax. This system arranges the account, group, and file in a different order. It also uses slashes instead of dots to separate accounts, groups, and files. Files specified using HFS are case-sensitive, can have file extensions, names longer than eight characters, and allow multiple levels of directories. For example, the following path:
/ACUCOBOL/sample/def/acucobol.def
refers to a file called "acucobol.def" in a subdirectory called "def" which is in a subdirectory called "sample" in a directory (or account) called "ACUCOBOL".
If you use standard MPE/iX syntax, you can reference only MPE files. If you use HFS syntax, you can reference both HFS and MPE files.
Most ACUCOBOL-GT files and directories must be specified using the HFS syntax. This means that, in some cases, you will not be able to use MPE syntax.