General Lookup Table or Database Substitutions (${...})

A substitution of the form ${text} is handled specially. The text part is used as a key to access the general lookup table or database (see 10.9.1 MTA Text Databases for more information). If text is found in the table, the corresponding template from the table is substituted. If text does not match an entry in the table, the input string is used unchanged as the output string.

If you are using the general lookup table you need to set the low order bit of the MTA option use_text_databases. That is, set it to an odd number. Changes to the general.txt need to be compiled into the MTA configuration using the imsimta cnbuild to compile and imsimta reload to reload the reloadable data.

If you are using a general database, it should be world readable to insure that it operates properly.

When you want to use processing control metacharacters such as $C, $R, or $L in a mapping table entry that does a general table substitution, the processing control metacharacter should be placed to the left of the general table substitution in the mapping table template; otherwise the “failure” of a general table substitution means that the processing control metacharacter is not seen.