The following MaxL Shell help page summarizes invocation options. This help is also available at the operating-system command prompt if you type essmsh -h | more.
essmsh(1) NAME essmsh -- MaxL Shell SYNOPSIS essmsh [-hlsmup] [-a | -i | file] [arguments...] DESCRIPTION This document describes ways to invoke the MaxL Shell. The shell, invoked and nicknamed essmsh, takes input in the following ways: interactively (from the keyboard), standard input (piped from another program), or file input (taken from file specified on the command line). The MaxL Shell also accepts any number of command-line arguments, which can be used to represent any name. OPTIONS essmsh accepts the following options on the command line: -h Prints this help. -l <user> <pwd> Logs in a user name and password to the local Essbase Server instance. -u <user> Specifies a user to be logged in to an Essbase Server instance. If omitted but the '-p' or '-s' flags are used, essmsh will prompt for the username. -p <pwd> Specifies a password of the user set by the '-u' option to be logged in to an Essbase Server instance. If omitted, essmsh will prompt for the password, and the password will be hidden on the screen. -s <server> Used after -l, or with [-u -p], logs the specified user into a named server. When omitted, localhost is implied. -m <msglevel> Sets the level of messages returned by the shell. Values for <msglevel> are: all (the default), warning, error, and fatal. -i Starts a MaxL session which reads from <STDIN>, piped in from another program. The end of the session is signalled by the EOF character in that program. -a Allows a string of command-line arguments to be referenced from within the subsequent INTERACTIVE session. These arguments can be referenced with positional parameters, such as $1, $2, $3, etc. Note: omit the -a when using arguments with a file-input session. NOTES No option is required to pass a filename to essmsh. Arguments passed to essmsh can represent anything: for example, a user name, an application name, or a filter name. Arguments must appear at the end of the invocation line, following '-a', '-i', or filename. EXAMPLES Interactive session, simplest case: essmsh Interactive session, logging in a user: essmsh -l user pwd Interactive session, logging user in to a server: essmsh -l user pwd -s server Interactive session, logging in with two command-line arguments (referenced thereafter at the keyboard as $1 and $2): essmsh -l user pwd -a argument1 argument2 Interactive session, with setting the message level: essmsh -m error Interactive session, hiding the password: essmsh -u user1 Enter Password > ****** File-input session, simplest case: essmsh filename File-input session, with three command-line arguments (referenced anonymously in the file as $1, $2, and $3): essmsh filename argument1 argument2 argument3 Session reading from <STDIN>, logging into a server with two command-line arguments: essmsh -l user pwd -s server -i argument1 argument2