Provides on-line information about the use of DEC DATATRIEVE commands, statements, and language elements. Format { HELP } { ? } [ERROR] [topic][...] { }
1 – Arguments
ERROR Provides additional information on the last error message that you received. topic Is a DEC DATATRIEVE command, statement, statement element, or error. Use commas to separate each topic from the next. . . . (ellipsis) Indicates that all help subtopics and any of their subtopics should be displayed. ? (question mark) Is a synonym for HELP.
2 – Examples
The following example shows how to ask for a list of the help that is available: DTR> HELP The following example shows how to ask for help on the screen- oriented Help facility: DTR> HELP VIDEO The following example shows how to ask for help on the last error message you received. For example, if you use the SORT statement without first forming a collection, DEC DATATRIEVE displays an error message: DTR> READY YACHTS DTR> SORT BY LOA No collection for sort. You can issue the HELP ERROR command to find out the reason for the error message, possible actions to correct the error, and how to obtain more on-line information: DTR> HELP ERROR No collection for sort. ERROR_MESSAGES Errors NOCOLSOR 008D8352 No collection for sort. Explanation: You can use the SORT statement only with an established collection. User Action: Use the SORTED BY clause in an RSE to order records not contained in an established collection. For example: PRINT EMPLOYEES SORTED BY LAST_NAME. You can also use the SORTED BY clause in the RSE of the FIND statement to order records when a collection is being created. In addition, you can use a SORT statement to reorder records after the collection is created.