There is more than one way to get help about a particular command. Take the MOUNT command as an example. You may enter HELP MOUNT at the DCL prompt, or you may enter HELP and then enter MOUNT at the Topic prompt. A display similar to the following appears:
$ HELP MOUNT MOUNT The Mount utility (MOUNT) allows you to make a disk or magnetic tape volume available for processing. Format MOUNT device-name[:][,...] [volume-label[,...]] [logical-name[:]] Additional information available: Parameters Usage_Summary /ACCESSED /ASSIST /AUTOMATIC /BIND /BLOCKSIZE /CACHE /CLUSTER /COMMENT /CONFIRM /COPY /DATA_CHECK /DENSITY /EXTENSION /FOREIGN /GROUP /HDR3 /INCLUDE /INITIALIZE=CONTINUATION /LABEL /MEDIA_FORMAT /MESSAGE /MOUNT_VERIFICATION /MULTI_VOLUME /OVERRIDE /OWNER_UIC /PROCESSOR /PROTECTION /QUOTA /REBUILD /RECORDSIZE /SHADOW /SHARE /SUBSYSTEM /SYSTEM /UCS_SEQUENCE /UNDEFINED_FAT /UNLOAD /WINDOWS /WRITE MOUNT_Examples MOUNT Subtopic? _
The preceding display shows the first HELP screen for the MOUNT command. A brief description of the MOUNT command is followed by its general command line format. Finally, a list of subtopics is shown, from which you may select descriptions of each qualifier or example of MOUNT command usage. Enter the name of any item to see additional information. The following example requests information about the /SYSTEM qualifier:
MOUNT Subtopic? /SYSTEM MOUNT /SYSTEM Makes the volume public, that is, available to all users of the system, as long as the UIC-based volume protection allows them access. Format /SYSTEM Additional information available: Examples MOUNT /SYSTEM Subtopic?
The HELP database consists of multiple levels of detail, each topic having its own tree of subtopics. Note that the following example ends with another subtopic prompt, offering the viewer the opportunity to see examples of the MOUNT/SYSTEM command:
MOUNT /SYSTEM Subtopic? Example MOUNT /SYSTEM Examples 1.$ MOUNT/NOMESSAGE/SYSTEM DUA1: SLIP SACH This command mounts the volume labeled SLIP on DUA1 with mount messages disabled. The volume is made available systemwide. MOUNT also assigns the logical name SACH. 2.$ MOUNT/SYSTEM/BIND=MASTER_PAY - _$ DB1:,DB2:,DB3: PAYVOL1,PAYVOL2,PAYVOL3 This command creates the volume set named MASTER_PAY consisting of the initialized volumes labeled PAYVOL1, PAYVOL2, and PAYVOL3. These volumes are mounted physically on the devices named DB1, DB2, and DB3, respectively. The volume PAYVOL1 is the root volume of the set. The volumes are mounted as system volumes to make them available to all users. MOUNT /SYSTEM Subtopic?