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DCL and PIPE command length limits?

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The Question is:

 
Why can't a PIPE command (after symbol and lexical expantion) be longer as 256
 characters?
Example:
$ files:=filename1.txt,filename2.txt,-
filename3.txt,filename4.txt,filename5.txt,-
flname.txt
$ write sys$output f$length(files)
$ pipe dir 'files' ; dir 'files' ; dir 'files'
%DCL-W-TKNOVF, command element is too long - shorten
 \DIR FILENAME1.TXT,FILENAME2.TXT,FILENAME3.TXT,FILENAME4.TXT,FILENAME5.TXT,FLNA
ME.TXT ; DIR FILENAME1.TXT,FILENAME2.TXT,FILENAME3.TXT,FILENAME4.TXT,FILENAME5.T
XT,FLNAME.TXT ; DIR FILENAME1.TXT,FILENAME2.TXT,FILENAME3.TXT,FILENAME4.TXT,FILE
NAME5.TXT,FLNAM

The Answer is :

 
  There is no particular reason the command cannot be longer than circa
  256 characters, other than the internal limits present within the PIPE
  command and with DCL itself, of course.
 

  
     
     answer written or last revised on ( 29-MAR-2001 )
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