TOPS-20 Commands Reference Manual

HELP

Displays explanatory text for many TOPS-20 system features.

Format

@HELP (ON SUBJECT) name

where:

name	is the name of a topic chosen from the list given in response to the command HELP ? Default name - HELP

Sample of HELP Command Arguments

ACCT20	ACCTPR	ACTGEN	APL	APLSF	BLIS10	CHECKD	CHKPNT
COBDDT	COBOL	CONV20	CREF	DAEMDB	DBINFO	DBMEND	DIRTST
DLUSER	DUMPER	EDIT	FE	FILCOM	FORDDT	FORDML	FORMAT
FORTRA	HELP	ISAM	LIBARY	LINK	LPTSPL	MACRO	MAIL
MAKLIB	MAKRAM	MAKVFU	OPLEAS	PLEASE	PTYCON	QUEUE	RDMAIL
RERUN	RSXFMT	RUNINP	RUNOFF	SCHEMA	SORT	SYSERR	SYSJOB
TRANSL	ULIST	USAG20	USAH20	WATCH

Characteristics

Other HELP Command Arguments

Note that some of the HELP command arguments shown here may be omitted if the associated topics are not available at your site. The list may include other texts inserted by your system administrator to describe features special to your system. Also, this list is revised frequently to reflect improvements and additions to standard TOPS-20 programs.

Hints

Printing HELP Files on the Line Printer

The texts displayed by the HELP command are stored in system logical name HLP: under the name of the topic and file type .HLP. Use the PRINT command to request your own copy.

Examples

Ask for information about the FILCOM program.

@HELP FILCOM
FILCOM V21B(60)

FILCOM compares two files in either ASCII mode 
or binary depending upon switches or file name extensions.  
All standard binary extensions are recognized as binary by 
 default.
Switches are :-
/A compare in ASCII mode
        .
        .
        .
/W compare the Word mode but don't expand files
/X expand files before word mode compare

Use the DIRECTORY command to search system logical name HLP: for any text involving mail. (Note the use of wildcard characters here.) Then, print a copy of one of the help files.
```
@DIRECTORY HLP:*MAIL*.HLP

   PS:<HELP>
 MAIL.HLP.2
 RDMAIL.HLP.2

 Total of 2 files
@PRINT /AFTER:1700 HLP:MAIL.HLP
[Printer job APLSF queued, request #131, limit 174]
```

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