HELP

The HELP command provides online reference information for individual commands. You can request partial or complete information for a particular command. You can also use the HELP command to display the contents of a file. You can either enter the HELP command and the desired parameters directly, or you can access the Help Facility subsystem and enter individual HELP commands from the subsystem. Refer to "Operation Notes" for more information.

Syntax

Direct access:

      HELP  {commandname  [,PARMS

                            ,OPERATION

                            ,EXAMPLE

                            ,ALL]

             filename

             HELPSTUDY

             SUMMARY

             CLASS}

Subsystem access:

   HELPReturn {commandname  [,PARMS

                               ,OPERATION

                               ,EXAMPLE

                               ,ALL]

               HELPMENU

               HELPSTUDY

               SUMMARY

               CLASS

               EXIT}

Parameters

command-name

Specifies any command. Without additional keywords, the system displays the command name, syntax, and a brief description. Specifying the following keywords provides the information indicated:

PARMS: This keyword lists and provides a description for all parameters of the specified command.
OPERATION: This keyword describes how to use the specified command.
EXAMPLE: This keyword displays an example showing usage of the specified command.
ALL: This keyword displays the information from all of the keywords (PARMS, OPERATION, EXAMPLE).

If you want to enter a keyword with a command, you must separate the keyword from the command using a space or comma.

filename

Specifies any existing file name. When you specify this parameter with the command, the system displays the contents of the file and a header indicating whether it is a command file or program file. You cannot specify this parameter from within the Help Facility subsystem.

HELPMENU

Displays the main menu of the Help Facility subsystem, from which you can choose several options. This automatically appears when you invoke the subsystem, but you can also access this menu by specifying this parameter after the Help Facility prompt (>) within any portion of the facility.

HELPSTUDY

Provides a tutorial designed to familiarize novice users with the fundamentals of commands and command syntax.

SUMMARY

Provides a brief summary of operating system changes, including a quick overview of the operation of the Help Facility.

CLASS

Lists commands by functional class.

EXIT

Exits the Help Facility subsystem. Note that you cannot obtain help for the EXIT command within the Help Facility subsystem. You must use the direct access method instead (HELP EXIT).

Operation Notes

Usage
You can enter this command from a session, a job, a program, or in break mode. Pressing Break aborts the execution of this command.
Methods of access
You can get help by either entering the HELP command directly or by invoking the Help Facility subsystem. The direct method is recommended when you want to obtain information about one command or if you want to display the contents of a file. The subsystem method is recommended if you want to obtain information about several commands or prefer to interact with a friendlier screen-driven information source.
To access the Help Facility directly, you type the HELP command followed by any of the valid syntax parameters, then press Return. To access the Help Facility subsystem, you type the HELP command and press Return. The Help Facility subsystem menu appears, followed by a right angle bracket (>) prompt. You then type any of the valid syntax parameters and press Return.

Examples

To directly access description and syntax information for the ABORT command, enter:

   :HELP ABORT

The system responds by displaying:

   ABORT



   Aborts current program or operation.



   Syntax



       ABORT



   KEYWORDS: PARMS,OPERATION,EXAMPLE

   :

To access description and syntax information for the ABORT command from the Help Facility subsystem, enter:

   :HELP

The system responds by displaying:

   

                     This is the MPE/iX Help Facility



        * Enter SUMMARY, CLASS, a commandname, or HELPSTUDY *



             SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . .A summary of changes in MPE/iX.



             CLASS . . . . . . . . . . .Classes of Commands

                               SESSIONS, JOBS, FILES, SUBSYSTEMS, ETC.



             < command name >. . COMMAND entries, by name



             < command name >< keyword> COMMAND entry with keyword

                                        PARMS, OPERATION, EXAMPLE



             HELPSTUDY . . . . . . . .  A beginner's introduction to Help



             EXIT  . . . . . . . . . .  To leave the Help Facility



                               You can use UPPERCASE or lowercase.



        >>>>>> The name of this screen is HELPMENU <<<<<<

   >

Type ABORT at the prompt located at the bottom of the screen, as shown:

   >ABORT

The system responds by displaying:

   ABORT



   Aborts current program or operation.



   Syntax



       ABORT



   KEYWORDS: PARMS,OPERATION,EXAMPLE

   :

To display a summary of the Help Facility subsystem, enter:

   >SUMMARY

The system responds by displaying the following screen:

                               SUMMARY



   o Interactive   -- enter HELP at the colon prompt.  Then enter

     COMMANDNAME[,[KEYWORD]].  Exit by entering E or EXIT.



   o Direct Access -- enter HELP COMMANDNAME[,[KEYWORD]] at the colon

     prompt.  Help exits after displaying (and scrolling) the portion

     that you specified.



   o This summary contains seven special topics:



     FUNCTION       summary of Help function

     NM             commands that operate in native mode

     CM             commands that have been enhanced for MPE/iX.

     UNSUPPORTED    commands that are NOT SUPPORTED in MPE/iX.

     UNCHANGED      commands that retained their function from MPE V/E.

     XLSYNTAX       discusses SYNTAX FLEXIBILITY with the NM commands.

     CLASS          commands by class (SESSIONS,JOBS, FILES...)



   KEYWORDS:  SUMMARY2,NEW,CHANGED,UNCHANGED,UNCH2,UNCH3,UNSUPPORTED,

              XLSYNTAX,XLSYNTAX2,XLSYNTAX3

To review commands listed by the functional tasks they perform, enter:

   >CLASS

The system responds by displaying the following screen:

                    COMMANDS LISTED BY CLASS



         Commands for                 Enter

   ........................................................

   SUBSYSTEMS                         SUBSYSTEMS <Return>

   COMMUNICATE WITH USERS             COMMUNICATE <Return>

   MANAGING ACCOUNT, GROUP, ETC.      MANAGE <Return>

   MANAGE DEVICES                     DEVICES <Return>

   MANAGE FILES                       FILES <Return>

   VARIABLES (AND JCWs)               VARS <Return>

   MANAGE JOBS & SESSIONS             JOBSESS <Return>

   MANAGE RESOURCES                   RESOURCES <Return>

   MANAGE THE SPOOLER                 SPOOLER <Return>

   MANAGE SYSTEM & USER LOGGING       LOGGING <Return>

   MANAGE VOLUME SETS                 VOLUMES <Return>

   SYSTEM PROGRAMMING                 PROGRAMMING <Return>

   CREATING AND MANAGING UDCs         UDC <Return>

   LANGUAGES (BASIC, C, FORTRAN)      LANGUAGES <Return>

   DATA COMMUNICATION                 DATACOMM <Return>

   .........................................................



     You may at any time enter the name of a command to find that topic.

              You may enter SUMMARY to return to that topic

   KEYWORDS:  SESSIONS, JOBS, MANAGE, FILES, PROGRAMS, DEVICES, UTILITY

              RESOURCES, OPERATOR, SPOOLER

   >

To display the contents of a file named TEST, enter:

   :HELP TEST

The system responds by displaying the following:

   USER DEFINED COMMAND FILE:  TEST.PUB.VOL



   This is a test file.

   Additional lines follow...

Related Commands

None

HELP

Technical documentation

» Table of Contents

» Index

Syntax

Parameters

Operation Notes

Examples

Related Commands