VMS Help HELP, /MESSAGE, Qualifiers  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

1 - /BRIEF

    Outputs the message text only.

2 - /DELETE

    /DELETE=filename.MSGHLP

    Deletes all messages contained in the specified .MSGHLP file from
    whichever of the following files is found first:

    o  A .MSGHLP$DATA file specified with the /LIBRARY qualifier

    o  The first .MSGHLP$DATA file in a search path specified by the
       /LIBRARY qualifier

    o  SYS$HELP:MSGHLP$LIBRARY.MSGHLP$DATA (the default .MSGHLP$DATA file)

    o  The first .MSGHLP$DATA file in the default search path
       (defined by logical name MSGHLP$LIBRARY)

    You must have write access to Compaq supplied .MSGHLP$DATA files
    to delete messages from the Compaq supplied database.

                                   NOTE

       If you create a .MSGHLP file by specifying a search string,
       check the output .MSGHLP file to be sure the search did
       not pick up any unexpected messages that you do not want to
       delete from the database. Edit any such messages out of the
       .MSGHLP file before you perform the delete operation.

3 - /EXTRACT

    /EXTRACT=filename.MSGHLP

    Extracts messages from the database and generates a .MSGHLP file
    that can be edited, if desired, and used as input for /INSERT and
    /DELETE operations. /EXTRACT retrieves data from a .MSGHLP$DATA
    file or logical search path specified by /LIBRARY or, by default,
    from files in the search path defined by logical name MSGHLP$LIBRARY.
    When /EXTRACT is not specified, Help Message produces output in
    standard text format by default (see /OUTPUT).

4 - /FACILITY

    /FACILITY=?
    /FACILITY=(facility-name [,...])
    /FACILITY=ALL

    Specifies which facilities in the database are to be searched
    for a match.

    Enter /FACILITY=? to output a list of all facilities in the
    default database or in a database specified by /LIBRARY.

    To narrow your search, specify one or more facility names
    with /FACILITY. (Multiple facilities must be enclosed in
    parentheses and be separated by commas.) Help Message then
    outputs only matching messages produced by the specified
    facility or facilities.

    Specify /FACILITY=ALL to output messages for all facilities
    in the database. /FACILITY=ALL is the default unless another
    facility is implied; for example, specifying /STATUS or
    defaulting to the value of the CLI symbol $STATUS automatically
    identifies a specific facility. Similarly, cutting and pasting
    a message that includes a facility name invalidates use of the
    /FACILITY qualifier.

5 - /FULL

    /FULL (default)

    Outputs the complete message description, including message
    text, facility name, explanation, user action, and user-supplied
    comment, if any.

6 - /INSERT

    /INSERT=filename.MSGHLP

    Updates the first of the following files to be found with new or changed
    information from the specified .MSGHLP file:

    o  A .MSGHLP$DATA file specified with the /LIBRARY qualifier

    o  The first .MSGHLP$DATA file in a search path specified by the
       /LIBRARY qualifier

    o  The first .MSGHLP$DATA file in the default search path
       (defined by logical name MSGHLP$LIBRARY)

    o  SYS$HELP:MSGHLP$LIBRARY.MSGHLP$DATA (the default MSGHLP$DATA file)

    You must have write access for the Compaq supplied .MSGHLP$DATA
    files to insert data into these files. User-supplied data is
    identified by change bars in Help Message output.

7 - /LIBRARY

    /LIBRARY=disk:[directory]filename.MSGHLP$DATA
    /LIBRARY=disk:[directory]
    /LIBRARY=logical-name

    Defines the messages database for the current command to be
    a particular .MSGHLP$DATA file, all the .MSGHLP$DATA files in
    a specified directory, or all the files in a search path defined
    by a logical name.

    For most operations, the default database is either
    SYS$HELP:MSGHLP$LIBRARY.MSGHLP$DATA or a search path
    of .MSGHLP$DATA files defined by logical name MSGHLP$LIBRARY.

    For /DELETE and /INSERT operations, the default database is
    either SYS$HELP:MSGHLP$LIBRARY.MSGHLP$DATA or the first
    file in a search path defined by logical name MSGHLP$LIBRARY.

8 - /OUTPUT

    /OUTPUT=filespec

    Writes output to the specified file. By default, Help Message
    writes output to SYS$OUTPUT, which is normally the terminal.

9 - /PAGE

    /PAGE (default for screen display)
    /NOPAGE

    Displays terminal output one screen at a time. The page length
    is automatically set to 1 line less than the value specified
    by SET TERMINAL/PAGE. (Use of /PAGE is incompatible with
    /OUTPUT=filespec.)

10 - /SECTION_FILE

    /SECTION_FILE=*
    /SECTION_FILE=file-spec

    Identifies the specified message section file to the system so
    that Help Message can interpret the $STATUS values for the
    messages in that file. The default file specification is
    SYS$MESSAGE:.EXE. Specifying /SECTION_FILE=* automatically
    includes all OpenVMS-supplied message section files.

                                   NOTE

       The results of using this qualifier are entirely independent
       from those created by the SET MESSAGE command.  The Help
       Message utility and Message utility do not interact. You must
       separately code each utility to obtain the results you want.

11 - /SORT

    /SORT
    /NOSORT (default)

    Sorts output in alphabetical order. If a sort fails, retry the
    operation using the /WORK_FILES qualifier.

12 - /STATUS

    /STATUS=status-code
    /STATUS='symbol'
    /STATUS='$STATUS' (default)

    Outputs the message corresponding to the specified status code.
    You can specify the status code with a decimal or hexadecimal
    number or a symbol enclosed in apostrophes.

    If a HELP/MESSAGE command does not include a search string, Help
    Message by default outputs the message corresponding to the CLI
    symbol $STATUS; that is, Help Message displays information on how
    the last executed command completed.

    You cannot specify a search string or /FACILITY with /STATUS.
    /FACILITY is also illegal if you omit the search string and
    default to /STATUS='$STATUS'.

13 - /WORD_MATCH

    /WORD_MATCH=INITIAL_SUBSTRING (default)
    /WORD_MATCH=WHOLE_WORD

    /WORD_MATCH=INITIAL_SUBSTRING matches all words that begin with
    a word specified in the search string. The search string can
    contain multiple words to be matched. Only messages that match
    every word in the search string (in any order) are output.

    /WORD_MATCH=WHOLE_WORD matches whole words only and refines your
    search to the exact words specified. For example, an exact search
    on ACC screens out dozens of other messages containing words that
    begin with the letters ACC.

14 - /WORK_FILES

    /WORK_FILES=nn
    /WORK_FILES=0 (default if qualifier is omitted)
    /WORK_FILES=2 (default if qualifier is entered with no value)

    Specifies that work files are to be used if the /SORT qualifier
    is specified. You can specify a value from 0 to 10 for nn. This
    qualifier has no effect if /SORT is not specified.