HELP Command Function The HELP command prints information about system features on your terminal. You can select this information from the following file structures: HLP:, NEW:, OLD:, DOC:, and SYS:. Formats HELP Prints instructions for using the variations of the HELP command. HELP * Lists the names of features for which HELP is available, all the monitor commands, all site-specific commands, all user-defined (declared) commands, all the monitor SET commands, the monitor SET TTY commands, the terminal types supported by TOPS-10, and the SET WATCH commands. HELP name Where: name is the name of a feature or program for which the monitor has a HELP file. Only the first six alphanumeric characters are read by the HELP program. HELP dev:name Where: dev: is the file structure that the file is on. name is the name of the program or feature for which you want help. If the specified feature does not have a HELP file on the specified device, or if you do not specify the device, the devices are searched in the following order: HLP:, SYS:, NEW:, OLD:, DOC: You can change the search order by changing your job search list. For more information, see the SETSRC command help file SETSRC. You can use the asterisk wildcard construction (*) instead of the feature name, for information about all the HELP available on the specified device. (See examples.) You cannot use the asterisk (*) to specify the device name. Because of the 6-character limit on file names, some of the help file names can be cryptic. The file names for the commands topics are fairly straightforward and, although truncated to 6-characters, can be understood. (For example, PASSWO is the help file for the PASSWORD command.) However, help files are provided for such general topics as line continuation (LNCONT), compiler switches (COMSWI), and directory paths (DIRPAT) and the file names for these topics may be difficult to ascertain. These general topics and their help file names are listed below: _________________________________________________________________ Help file Topic _________________________________________________________________ ATSIGN Indirect Commands (@ Construction) ANGLEB The Angle-Bracket (< >) Construction CHRCOD SIXBIT/ASCII Character Codes CMDARG Command Arguments COMSWI Compiler Switches COMCMD Compile-Class Commands CRDCOD ASCII Card Codes DEFCOM The Default Compiler DELKEY The DELETE Key DEVHND Device-Handling Commands DEVNAM Device Names DIRNAM Directory Names DIRPAT Directory Paths DTARGS Date-Time Arguments EQUAL The Equal (=) Construction ERSNAM Ersatz Device Names FILEXT File Name Extensions FILHND File-Handling Commands FILNAM File Names FISPEC File Specification FNCCMD Functional Groups of Commands INFCMD Information Commands JOBCTL Job-Control Commands LIBS Libraries LNCONT Line Continuation LNKSWI LINK Switches MICCTL MIC Commands NETCMD Network Commands NEWUSE Introductory Help to TOPS-10 Commands PCODES Protection Codes PLUS The Plus (+) Construction PRGCTL Program-Control Commands PRGPRE Program-Preparation Commands RESPPN Reserved Project-Programmer Numbers SERLST Search Lists SWINI SWITCH.INI Files SWITCH Command Switches SYSDEF System Defaults TEMFIL Temporary Files TERCTL Terminal-Control and Terminal Communication UCMNDS User-Definable Commands WLDCRD Wildcard Constructions _________________________________________________________________ The various SET commands have their own help files and they are listed in the general-topic help file SET. Characteristics Does an autopush, so it preserves your core image. Runs the HELP program. Leaves your terminal at monitor level. Does not require LOGIN. Example For information about the HELP command, type HELP. .HELP The HELP command prints information about the system on your terminal. Use one of the following constructions for specific information. .HELP Prints out this message. .HELP * Prints out the names of all subjects for which there is help. Use one of these subjects as the name in the next construction. HELP * also prints out the names of the system commands, the names of site-specific commands, the names of job-specific commands, the names of the SET commands, the names of the SET DEFAULT commands, the names of the SET TTY commands, the names of the SET WATCH commands, and the supported terminal types. .HELP name Prints all the information available about the subject "name". For example: .HELP DIRECT Prints information about the DIRECT command/program. .HELP lib:* Prints out the names of all subjects for which there is help available from the specified library device. The standard system library devices are: SYS: NEW: OLD: HLP: DOC: For example: .HELP NEW:* Prints a list of all the information available in NEW:. .HELP lib:name Prints information about the specified subject in the specified library.