Found it.  I was trying to use it to name detectors, but didn’t realize the “i” parameter was the surface number

$COMMENT(i)

Where “i” is the surface number.  My detectors were at the bottom of the LDE so I just had to add a constant to get the correct surface in a for loop

$COMMENT(i+27)

Still not working though, but this is how you “get” comment line.

path$ = $PATHNAME() + "\"
lensFilename$ = $FILENAME()
lengthFilename = SLEN(lensFilename$)
shortenFilename$ = $LEFTSTRING(lensFilename$, lengthFilename-3)
cfgFilename$ = path$ + shortenFilename$ + "CFG"


! Calculate number of detectors in the system
numObj = NOBJ(1)

FOR obj = 1, numObj, 1
	FORMAT 1 INT
	surf = 27 + obj
	PRINT surf
	NM$ = $COMMENT(surf)

	A$ = path$ + NM$ + ".BMP"
	! B$ = path$ + "DetData_" + $STR(obj) + ".TXT"
	type = NPRO(1, obj, 0, 0)
	type$ = $BUFFER()
	! Check if the object type is a detector. If yes, continue
	IF (type$ $== "NSC_DETE")
		! Update the settings with the detector number
		MODIFYSETTINGS cfgFilename$, DVW_DETECTOR, obj
		! With the new settings, open a window and take an image of what is there
		OPENANALYSISWINDOW DVR
		winVal = WINN()
		EXPORTBMP winVal, A$
		CLOSEWINDOW winVal
		! Additionally, save the detector data as a text file
		! GETTEXTFILE B$, DVR
	ENDIF
NEXT

I am using the code from one of the macros that are pre-built in Zemax, but just trying to get the name of the detector image file changed.  However, the COMMENT line does not return anything.  I feel like this should not be this hard, but I can't figure out what Zemax is doing.  Can someone point me in the right direction?  The PRINT statement generates this.

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Hi Keith,

The $COMMENT() only works for sequential surfaces in the LDE; it does not work for non-sequential objects in the NSC.  To get the non-sequential comment, you need to use a combination of NPRO() and $BUFFER().  Assuming you're in pure non-sequential mode (where the NSC Surface = 1), the code to get an object's comment is:

obj = 1
temp = NPRO(1, obj, 1, 0)
nsc_comment$ = $BUFFER()
PRINT nsc_comment$

Thank you!