VMS Help INQUIRE  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    Reads a value from SYS$COMMAND (usually the terminal in
    interactive mode or the next line in the main command procedure)
    and assigns it to a symbol.

    Format

      INQUIRE  symbol-name [prompt-string]

1 - Parameters

 symbol-name

    Specifies a symbol consisting of 1 to 255 alphanumeric
    characters.

 prompt-string

    Specifies the prompt to be displayed at the terminal when the
    INQUIRE command is executed. String values are automatically
    converted to uppercase. Also, any leading and trailing spaces and
    tabs are removed, and multiple spaces and tabs between characters
    are compressed to a single space.

    Enclose the prompt in quotation marks (" ")  if it contains
    lowercase characters, punctuation, multiple blanks or tabs, or
    an at sign (@). To denote an actual quotation mark in a prompt-
    string, enclose the entire string in quotation marks and use
    quotation marks (" ")  within the string.

    When the system displays the prompt string at the terminal,
    it generally places a colon (:)  and a space at the end of the
    string. (See the /PUNCTUATION qualifier.)

    If you do not specify a prompt string, the command interpreter
    uses the symbol name to prompt for a value.

2 - Qualifiers

 2.1 - /GLOBAL

    Specifies that the symbol be placed in the global symbol table.
    If you do not specify the /GLOBAL qualifier, the symbol is placed
    in the local symbol table.

 2.2 - /LOCAL

       /LOCAL (default)

    Specifies that the symbol be placed in the local symbol table for
    the current command procedure.

 2.3 - /PUNCTUATION

       /PUNCTUATION (default)
       /NOPUNCTUATION

    Inserts a colon and a space after the prompt when it is displayed
    on the terminal. To suppress the colon and space, specify the
    /NOPUNCTUATION qualifier.

3 - Examples

    1.$ INQUIRE CHECK "Enter Y[ES] to continue"
      $ IF .NOT. CHECK THEN EXIT

      The INQUIRE command displays the following prompting message at
      the terminal:

        Enter Y[ES] to continue:

      The INQUIRE command prompts for a value, which is assigned
      to the symbol CHECK. The IF command tests the value assigned
      to the symbol CHECK. If the value assigned to CHECK is true
      (that is, an odd numeric value, a character string that begins
      with a T, t, Y, or y, or an odd numeric character string), the
      procedure continues executing.

      If the value assigned to CHECK is false (that is, an even
      numeric value, a character string that begins with any letter
      except T, t, Y, or y, or an even numeric character string), the
      procedure exits.

    2.$ INQUIRE COUNT
      $ IF COUNT .GT. 10 THEN GOTO SKIP
        .
        .
        .
      $ SKIP:

      The INQUIRE command prompts for a count with the following
      message:

        COUNT:

      Then the command procedure uses the value of the symbol COUNT
      to determine whether to execute the next sequence of commands
      or to transfer control to the line labeled SKIP.

    3.$ IF P1 .EQS. "" THEN INQUIRE P1 "FILE NAME"
      $ FORTRAN 'P1'

      The IF command checks whether a parameter was passed to the
      command procedure by checking if the symbol P1 is null; if
      it is, it means that no parameter was specified, and the
      INQUIRE command is issued to prompt for the parameter. If P1
      was specified, the INQUIRE command is not executed, and the
      Fortran command compiles the name of the file specified as a
      parameter.