Language Guide

CHAPTER 4

Commands

72 Types of Commands

The sections that follow describe the different types of commands and

their targets.

Application Commands 4

Application commands are commands that cause actions in scriptable

applications. The target of an application command is an application object

or a script object. Different application objects respond to different commands.

To determine which commands a particular object can respond to, see the

deﬁnitions provided by the application’s documentation. (For example, each

object deﬁnition in Appendix B, “Scriptable Text Editor Dictionary,” of this

book includes a list of commands that can act on that object.)

There are two ways to specify an object as the target of a command: in the

direct parameter of the command or in a Tell statement that contains

the command.

The direct parameter is a value, usually a reference, that appears immediately

after a command and speciﬁes the target of the command. Not all commands

can have a direct parameter. If a command can have a direct parameter, the

command’s deﬁnition says so.

For example, in the following statement, the reference word 1 of front

document of app "Scriptable Text Editor" is the direct parameter

of the Delete command:

delete word 1 of front document of app "Scriptable Text Editor"

A Tell statement is a statement that speciﬁes a default target for all commands

contained within it. If a command is contained within a Tell statement, the

direct parameter is optional. If you leave out the direct parameter, AppleScript

uses the default target speciﬁed in the Tell statement. For example, the Delete

command in the following Tell statement has the same effect as the Delete

command in the previous example:

tell word 1 of front document of app "Scriptable Text Editor"

delete

end tell