For those readers who are not familiar with the MPE Operating System, here is a brief introduction to some MPE concepts you may need to understand while using QUERY.
MPE treats an input/output device as a file with a standard name. For example, $STDLIST is the name of the standard output file for both session and job modes. A file is equated to a device class which may be a line printer, terminal, disc, or other peripheral device. $STDLIST is normally equated to a terminal in session mode and to a line printer in job mode. The system manager defines the various device classes and sets up the correspondence between device classes and standard files.
QUERY uses a file named QSLIST to allow you to alter the normal output device to any other output device. You must use an MPE :FILE command to equate QSLIST to the device class you select. (The default device class is LP.) You then use the QUERY OUTPUT= command to change the output file from $STDLIST to QSLIST. The method for doing this is explained in detail with the OUTPUT= command in Section 3. The system manager can tell you what various device types are on your system.
MPE ASCII files contain ASCII characters and may be in disc or magnetic tape format. You can use EDIT/3000, TDP/3000, or any editor that accesses ASCII files, to create these files.
