Using the HELP facility

An explanation of the structure and function of the HELP facility and examples are provided.

The z/VM HELP facility provides information about z/VM components, commands and subcommands, macros, statement, routines, and messages.

The HELP facility is accessed by using the CMS HELP command. For information about the syntax, operands, and options of the HELP command, see HELP.

The HELP facility displays information that is in different kinds of HELP files. The different kinds of HELP files display different information and provide different interaction behaviors.
Menu files
Menu files display menus from which you can select command files and other menu files. Menus files are of two types:
  1. Component menu files.
  2. Task menu files.
For more information about menu files, see HELP Menus.
Information files
Information files provide information about z/VM components, commands and subcommands, and messages. Information files are messgge files and command files.
Message files
Message files contain information about messages that are issued by z/VM components and facilities. For more information about message files, see Getting HELP on Messages
Command files
Command files contain information about any function that is invoked by specifying a name, such as a command, a subcommand, a macro, a statement, or a routine. For more information about command files, see Getting HELP on Commands.

The HELP facility is used on 3270-type terminals in display mode. It can also be used on line-oriented terminals. In display mode, the HELP facility uses XEDIT to display the HELP files. In line-mode, the HELP facility types the contents of the HELP file to your screen one line at a time.

When you access the HELP facility, HELP uses EXECLOAD to load the HELPXED XEDIT macro, if the macro is not loaded. If you only occasionally use HELP, you might want to EXECDROP the HELPXED XEDIT macro to release the storage. For more information, see z/VM: CMS Commands and Utilities Reference.

HELP files usually appear on your screen in mixed case. However, in some installations, lowercase characters are reserved for displaying special alphabets. In this case, HELP files are displayed in uppercase.

If the PF key listing at the bottom of your screen is covered by a message, press Enter to refresh the screen.

You can quickly move between screens of HELP information. When you view the HELP information for one command, you can get help for another command by entering the HELP command in the current HELP screen. For example, if you view the HELP file for the CMS PRINT command, you can display the HELP file for the CMS COPYFILE command by entering the following HELP command on the command line of your current screen:
help cms copyfile
The HELP facility displays the HELP information for the COPYFILE command. If you press PF3 to quit the information about the COPYFILE command, you are returned to the information about the PRINT command.