Library /sys$common/syshlp/dbg$help.hlb DEBUG, SHOW, SCOPE, Description  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    The current scope search list designates one or more program
    locations (specified by path names or other special characters)
    to be used in the interpretation of symbols that are specified
    without path-name prefixes in debugger commands.

    The current scope search list is the scope search list last
    established with the SET SCOPE command. By default, if you did
    not enter a SET SCOPE command, the current scope search list is
    0,1,2, . . . ,n.

    The default scope search list specifies that, for a symbol
    without a path-name prefix, a symbol lookup such as EXAMINE X
    first looks for X in the routine that is currently executing
    (scope 0); if no X is visible there, the debugger looks in the
    caller of that routine (scope 1), and so on down the call stack;
    if X is not found in scope n, the debugger searches the rest of
    the run-time symbol table (RST)-that is, all set modules and the
    global symbol table (GST), if necessary.

    If you used a decimal integer in the SET SCOPE command to
    represent a routine in the call stack, the SHOW SCOPE command
    displays the name of the routine represented by the integer, if
    possible.

    Related commands:

       (SET,CANCEL) SCOPE