<div  id="defining-the-first-task">
<span id="defining-a-task"></span><span id="index-0"></span>
<p>Next, we need to write the <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-ecf-script"><em >ecf script</em></a> for the task <strong>t1</strong>.
By default ECF expects files to be in a directory structure below ECF_HOME that reflect the hierarchy of the suites.
The <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-task"><em >task</em></a> <strong>t1</strong> being in the <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-suite"><em >suite</em></a> test, the <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-ecf-script"><em >ecf script</em></a> for the task <strong>t1</strong> must be in a sub-directory test.</p>
<ul>
<li><p >In ECF_HOME, create a directory test:</p>
<div ><pre>&gt; mkdir test</pre>
</div>
</li>
<li><p >In test, create a file name <tt ><span >t1.ecf</span></tt> with the following contents:</p>
<div ><pre>%include "../head.h"
echo "I am part of a suite that lives in %ECF_HOME%"
%include "../tail.h"</pre>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Although similar an <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-ecf-script"><em >ecf script</em></a> is not a unix script. It contains <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-pre-processing"><em >pre-processing</em></a> <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-directives"><em >directives</em></a>.
Those <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-directives"><em >directives</em></a> are specified using the character %.
Before submitting the task, the ECF will scan the script and substitute the following strings:</p>
<ul >
<li>%include &#8221;../head.h&#8221; will be substituted by the content of the file <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Getting+Started#head-h"><em>head.h</em></a>.
Note that the file name is given relatively to the file <tt ><span >t1.ecf</span></tt>, i.e. in the directory above the one containing <tt ><span >t1.ecf</span></tt></li>
<li>%ECF_HOME% will be substituted by the value of the ECF variable ECF_HOME</li>
<li>%include <em>&#8221;../tail.h&#8221;</em> will be substituted by the content of the file <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Getting+Started#tail-h"><em>tail.h</em></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The output of <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-job-creation"><em >job creation</em></a> is known as the <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-job-file"><em >job file</em></a>, and is usually a unix script, although not necessarily.
This is the script that ECF will submit to your system.</p>
<p>The workings of the files <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Getting+Started#head-h"><em>head.h</em></a> and <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Getting+Started#tail-h"><em>tail.h</em></a> are described inline.
head.h contains code to set-up the job environment so that it can work with ECF and also
includes the required error trapping to report any script errors to the ECF server.
The file <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Getting+Started#tail-h"><em>tail.h</em></a> contains clean up code.</p>
<p>What to do:</p>
<ol >
<li>Type in the <a  href="/wiki/display/ECFLOW/Glossary#term-ecf-script"><em >ecf script</em></a> <tt ><span >t1.ecf</span></tt></li>
</ol>
</div>