[Info-vax] Suggested DCL enhancement

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2020-11-03 13:40:49 +0000, Simon Clubley said:

> Here's an idea for a DCL enhancement: implement a control character 
> that when typed causes DCL to dump all the valid options or keywords 
> available at that point by reading from the CLD.
> 
> For example, typing:
> 
> 	$ show device <Ctrl-P>
> 
> where <Ctrl-P> is the control character, would result in a list of all 
> the qualifiers (along with any optional arguments to the qualifiers)...
> ...
> Any comments ?

^P? Yeah. As was mentioned: don't try that on some of the OPA0: 
consoles. 😳😱🤬🤯

As a workaround for that CLD-dumping function, I use the VERB utility.

How this mechanism might differentiate documented from undocumented 
qualifiers—yes, there are undocumented qualifiers—is fodder for another 
discussion or three.

Closest analog now available is backspacing and inserting HELP.  ^H 
HELP on OpenVMS, and ^A man with various shells.  Obviously.


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