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Editor’s note: The author of this guide, A. Survivor, hinted in his introduction that this, the 8th edition of his guide to the VMS system, might be the last. That has turned out to be true. The University of Memphis no longer uses VMS computers for academic purposes, so the guide no longer serves any useful purpose. Survivor labored so diligently on all of the guides that he produced over a span of nearly a quarter-century, first for the Univac, then for the VMS cluster, that it seems fitting to keep his last guide online not merely as a curiosity, a fossil of a now-dead computing age, but also as a monument to his tireless efforts in acquainting several generations of students with the essentials of whatever system of computing, however primitive it may have been, was available to them at the time. Excelsior!

“The times, they are a-changin’” — and how! As late as the third edition of my earlier VAX guide in 1991, most users of the computers at Memphis State University (now The University of Memphis) sent some electronic mail and ran an SPSS routine once in a while. Now the computers are gateways to the Internet, the fabled “Information Superhighway.” I’ve been on that highway a few times, but I always feel like a Model T about to be run over by a convoy of Mack trucks. And as for SPSS (the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), I still have to haul out their big User’s Guide every time I use it. So don’t expect me to explain how to use the online catalog of the Bibliothèque Nationale, do a file transfer from Finland, use the World Wide Web to find out if it’s raining in Nashville, or even to write an SPSS program. Your instructors know more about all that than I’ll ever know; ask them. I can explain a fair amount about the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) system itself, because I’ve been using it since it was set up.

The present guide is an outgrowth of my earlier publications “A Guide to Univac for Non-Programmers” and “A Guide to the VAX Computer for Non-Programmers.” When I was just beginning to learn the Univac system, back in 1982, I found it necessary to refer constantly to my handwritten notes as models for what I wanted to do — for every procedure, an “idiot sheet.” After a time it occurred to me that others might benefit from my notes, so I typed them up, and the guide was the result. It went through three editions, reflecting various changes in the Univac system and the levels of SPSS and SPSSX.

Memphis State eventually gave the Univac to the Smithsonian Institution (or at least it should have) and acquired some VAX machines. Then they replaced the VAXes with DEC Alpha computers, which use the same operating system (VMS) that the VAXes used. I have learned a bit about them, perhaps more than you know already. I will eventually learn more, despite having to call long distance from Mississippi and having to use a slow modem on telephone lines that sound like an AM radio in the midst of a thunderstorm (RoadRunner hasn’t strung any cable lines out over Lake Woebegone yet and probably never will). I used to promise that as I learned more about the system there would be more revised editions of the guide. I produced three editions of my first guide to the VAX before some really substantial changes in the system forced me to produce the current guide, which is now in its eighth edition. I’m not sure there will be any more guides after this one, though. I’m getting too old to keep up with these constant changes; fewer and fewer people every year use the VMS computers (why should you if you can get everything you need done using a PC?); most SPSS users prefer SPSS for Windows over the version that runs under VMS; and the University keeps talking about retiring the VMS machines. But you never know. I might still be churning out these guides for several more decades.

The present guide is intended to be “just right” — telling you what a beginner really needs to know, and in understandable detail. You won’t know everything about the system, but if you know what’s in these pages, you’ll be able to use the academic computing system with some confidence.

Lake Woebegone, Mississippi

June 2005

2.1. Getting a Computer Account

To use the computer, you must first have a computer account. If you are a staff member, you possibly will use an account assigned to your office or activity. If you are a student, staff member, or faculty member, you may apply for an individual account at the Information Systems Helpdesk, Administration Building 124. You will receive a universal userID (mine is ASURVIVR) and a temporary VMS password. If you intend to access the VMS cluster via telephone dial-up, you should also get a ph-password at the same time, and to use any of the TigerLAN laboratories you’ll need a TigerLAN password too. Although sometime in the future there may be only one password at all levels, at the time I am writing (June 2005) all three passwords are distinct. The VMS password allows you to access computers on the VMS cluster, the ph-password authenticates your status as a member of the University community and gives you the right to use certain restricted facilities which are not necessarily on the VMS cluster, and the TigerLAN password lets you use the TigerLAN facilities.

2.2. Key to Symbols and Conventions Used in This Text

The user’s responses (that is, what you would key in on the keyboard) are usually in boldface italic letters for the sake of emphasis. VMS generally accepts commands and responses in either lower-case or capital letters. Naturally, in the entry of text you will want to observe normal capitalization rules.

Instructions and comments are in normal lower-case letters.

Names of terminal keys are enclosed in < >. For example, <Enter> indicates the key labeled Enter. (The keys on different terminals used to send lines may be marked <CR>, <Return>, or <Enter>; for convenience, <Enter> will be used in this text.)

2.3. The Terminal

For the most part, the instructions that follow assume that you will be using a Digital VT-series terminal or a microcomputer that can emulate one of the VT terminals (VT-52, VT-100, VT-220, or VT-320 emulations are usually available with good communications programs — set the highest level of emulation that is available).

Generally there must be a “prompt” character showing at the left of the screen before you can type and enter a line, though you can sometimes “type ahead” of the prompt without losing keystrokes. Some commands may take a fairly long time to be executed (and the whole system sometimes operates slowly if there are many users), so you may have to wait a while for the prompt to appear. If you work through the dial-up server at The University of Memphis, the server will have wok> as its prompt. When you get to the VMS cluster computer, the prompt character will become $ (unless you’re using the menu system, in which case no prompt character of any kind appears). If you are using the MAIL system, it will be MAIL>; SPSS will have SPSS> as a prompt. The instructions on the following pages are coded with the kind of prompt character that should appear before you use a particular command. Do not type the prompt character itself It is shown so that you can verify that you are at the right level or in the right program to execute the given command.

2.4. Logging In

These days, many persons can make their connections to the campus computers by way of the Internet, using telnet, instead of going through the University’s dial-up server. Microcomputers in the various TigerLAN laboratories (as in Mitchell Hall) and in most offices are already on the campus network and have telnet programs. All commercial Internet Service Providers, such as America Online, offer telnet facilities. With telnet you actually may log in to any computer anywhere in the world, provided that it is on the Internet and that you have a valid account and valid password on that computer. Here at The University of Memphis you will usually use one of the Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha computers. Two are currently available. One is named LATTE and the other MOCHA (I suppose the next one will be CAPPUCINO). At the moment of my writing, only LATTE runs SPSS, so my examples will use LATTE; for most other class exercises, you should be able to use MOCHA equally well. If you have Internet access, you can ignore all the following instructions about using the dial-up server and, using whatever telnet facility is available to you, issue the command:

telnet latte.memphis.edu

(Exactly how you issue the command depends on the telnet program you are using. Often you can select the entry for LATTE from a menu of possibilities.)

If you plan to work at a TigerLAN site, you must first log in to TigerLAN. If the screen is completely blanked out, nudge the mouse or press any key to “wake up” the system. When you begin your work the screen may be displaying a message which says that you must press <Ctrl><Alt><Del> to start. (This is the same 3-fingered keypress that reboots IBM-compatible computers.) Eventually you will see a log-in screen with two “boxes.” In the box labeled “Name” type your universal userID (mine, for example, is asurvivr). Either press <Tab> or click with the mouse in the box labeled “Password” and in that box type in your TigerLAN password. Press <Return> or click <OK> with the mouse.

TigerLAN loads in two distinct phases; most of the Internet programs load first (quickly), followed by various others (slowly). It will take quite a while overall for all of the icons to appear on the screen. Double-click on the icon labeled “Terminal”, “QVTTerm” (or something similar). Click on the icon of the file folder, or pull down the File menu and click on Open. If LATTE is already listed in the choice of computers, double-click on it. If not, enter LATTE in the “box” and press <Return>. You will shortly be connected to LATTE and you can then proceed with logging-in to it, as described below.

Many who live in the Memphis area may prefer to dial up the “new” server (not exactly “new” any more, since it started operation in May of 1994) which identifies itself by the prompt wok>; the telephone number is (901) 678-3600. There is strong competition for the limited number of modems available on the server. If you are lucky enough to get an answer instead of a busy signal, the server will ask for a username. If you supply the generic username “guest,” no password will be requested, but you will have access to most computing services, including computers in the VMS cluster. If you supply your universal userID, you will then be asked to supply your ph-password, which gives you access to all computing services, including SLIP and PPP connections. The CS Helpdesk will give you the initial ph-password, but you will be required to change it immediately when you first use it. I assume you will want to use your universal userID and ph-password, such as the ones I have:

asurvivr <Enter>

Fake1Pass2Word3 <Enter>

Although you may ask the wok> server to connect you directly to LATTE by typing in the name LATTE at the wok> prompt, I recommend that you establish a PPP connection and then use a telnet program to reach LATTE. (You must, of course, be privileged to establish such a connection by having supplied a universal userID and ph-password instead of logging in to the server as a guest.)

No matter how you reach LATTE, whether by telnet or through some server, once you are connected with it, you will receive a message similar to the following:

Local -010- Session 1 to LATTE established
Unauthorized computer usage is illegal
Username:

Enter your VMS username. These days, most VMS usernames are identical with the universal userIDs, but older ones may be different. VMS usernames have several different forms, depending on the type of account. Usually the username is some combination of your initials and surname, with possibly another letter or a numeral thrown in to insure uniqueness.

asurvivr <Enter>

You will then be asked for a VMS password, which will have been given to you by the CS Helpdesk. (This is not the same as the ph-password or the TigerLAN password mentioned above; you must remember which password to use at the appropriate level.)

herodotus <Enter>

When you log in for the very first time, VMS will tell you that your password has already expired; it is forcing you, for your protection, to change to a password of your own choosing. You will be asked to enter the old password, then to enter the new password, and then to verify (re-enter) the new password. You must type carefully because none of these passwords will be displayed on the screen. VMS will reject passwords that are less than six characters and those which are common words in its “dictionary”; use some arbitrary characters, for example, hist1ory2. As soon as you successfully change your password, you may move on. (A VMS password is currently valid for three months; after that VMS will force you to change it again.) The username is assigned by the CS Helpdesk and appears on any printouts, so it is pretty much a matter of public record. The password is supposed to be secret and allows only those who know it to use the account. It is initially assigned by the CS Helpdesk, but you as the user can change the password any time you desire.

A message, which varies from time to time, will appear. In the good old days it would end with the VMS prompt, which by default is a dollar sign: $, but nowadays the first time you log in you will be greeted by a menu which looks like the following figure.

ASURVIVR              THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS            09/13/99
LATTE                        MENU SYSTEM                   07:44 AM
                              MAIN MENU


                       1  VAX Mail system
                       2  University Information
                       3  Define a new Login Password
                       4  Kermit File Transfer Utility
                       5  Directory/File Services
                       6  Internet Resources
                       7  Exit to DCL Prompt ($)
                       8  Enable/Disable Menu
                       9  University Library
                       L  Logout

Select Option:

(At least it does for me, right now. But don’t count on it. The main menu and sub-menus are subject to change and have changed — sometimes drastically — since they were introduced. If you don’t see what I illustrate, use your intelligence and your imagination to figure out where a desired item might be located.) I am told that the menu reflects your status as a user; you see only the choices that are available to you, and other users may see other choices.

I learned to use VMS the hard way — without menus, at the $ prompt — so many of my instructions assume that you are not using the menu (I’ll also tell you how to accomplish most of the tasks using the menu system.) You can exit to the DCL level by choosing that option on the menu. Any time you see the $ prompt, you can get back to the menu by:

$ menu <Enter>

(REMEMBER: Do not type the prompt; type only your response.)

Notice that there is an option for disabling the menu, so that you can be at the $ prompt on all future log-ins. It might seem strange that if you choose that option you will immediately be returned to the menu. But remember: you’re disabling the menu for future log-ins. The disabling takes effect the next time you log in.

Whether you stay with the menu or exit to the $ prompt, you’re completely logged in now, ready to do work.

3.1. Commands, Parameters, and Qualifiers

When you log in, VMS is in the “executive” mode, expecting Digital Command Language (DCL) commands or selections from the main menu. In effect the computer is saying “OK — what do you want me to do?” I’ll show you later how to do some of the same things from the menu; right now, let’s assume you’re at the $ prompt for a while.

Very often you will be interested in using some processor such as SPSS, BASIC, or Pascal, in which case you usually just enter the name of the processor itself. For example:

$ spss <Enter> or $ basic <Enter> or $ pascal <Enter>

Or you may call upon VMS to execute some utility, such as copying the contents of a file to another file, printing a text file, giving a directory listing your files, or deleting unneeded files from disk storage. The DCL commands are often exactly what you would expect them to be. The operations just mentioned can be executed by COPY, PRINT, DIRECTORY, and DELETE, respectively.

Some DCL commands, however, need to be told what to operate upon and possibly where to put the results of the operation. For example, if you enter the command PRINT you will certainly want to print a particular file, and you may supply the filename on the command line, as:

$ print filename.type <Enter>

If you do not supply the parameter(s) on the command line, DCL will ask you for the needed information, as:

$ print <Enter>

will provoke the response

_File:

which is DCL’s way of asking you to supply a filename.

In addition, many DCL commands have qualifiers, items which are in effect subcommands to define further exactly what is to be done.

$ directory <Enter> or $ dir <Enter>

gives only the names of the files in the current directory. The qualifier /FULL causes a listing of not only the filenames but a vast amount of information about each file:

$ directory /full <Enter> or $ dir /full <Enter>

(You don’t need a space before the </> mark which starts a qualifier. I just like it that way; it’s easier to see a qualifier when it’s separated.)

Another example: if you do not specify a particular printer, the PRINT command will use the system printer, which will have its output filed in the Input/Output Room in Administration Building 112. If you are working in the Mathematics Building, you probably would want the output to come off the printer there, so you would use a qualifier:

$ print /queue=wdlaser1 filename.type <Enter>

Many commands can be truncated or shortened. You need supply only as much of the name as VMS needs to distinguish it from others that start with similar letters. This may be only one letter in some cases, more in others. T is enough to distinguish TYPE. But P alone could be PROCESS or PROTECTION (and others, as well). So if you want to issue the command SHOW PROTECTION, you must enter at least SH PROT.

3.2. Recalling Commands

VMS has a very convenient way of “remembering” previously issued commands, which you can re-use in either edited or unedited form. You may recall the previous command by pressing the “up arrow” cursor key or <Ctrl><B> or by giving the command RECALL. If you need to go further back in the series of commands, keep pressing the key (or keys) until you see the command you want. The last twenty commands are “stacked.” You can get a listing of what they are by

$ recall /all <Enter>

If the recalled command is not exactly as you wish to execute it, you may edit it. <Ctrl><A> will put you into “insert” mode if you need to make changes without overwriting what is already there. <Ctrl><H> (and <Backspace> on many microcomputers) moves the cursor immediately to the beginning of the command line; <Ctrl><E> moves it immediately to the end of the command line; <Ctrl><D> is the same as the “left arrow” cursor key; <Ctrl><F> is the same as the “right arrow” cursor key; and <Ctrl><U> deletes everything on the command line to the left of the cursor. When you have edited the recalled command to your satisfaction, you may execute it by pressing <Enter>.

3.3. Using a LOGIN.COM File

You may wish to have certain DCL commands executed automatically whenever you log in. You can do this by creating a file named LOGIN.COM containing the necessary commands (this file is comparable in content and execution to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in Microsoft DOS). Each command line in LOGIN.COM must be preceded by the system prompt, which is $. The statements

$ show time <Enter>

$ show default <Enter>

$ set prompt = “What now, boss?” <Enter>

$ exit <Enter>

would cause VMS, when you log in, to tell you the date and time, tell you what your default directory is when you begin, and change the system prompt from its default value of $ to What now, boss?

      13-SEP-1999  09:46:31
      E240E:[ASURVIVR]
    What now, boss?
    

4.1. Files

Files are units of material stored in the computer. All files must have names to identify them. The naming conventions in VMS are similar to those in Microsoft DOS on microcomputers. A file name may be 1 to 39 characters in length and may consist of any combination of the letters <A> to <Z>, the digits <0> to <9>, and the special characters <_> (underscore) and <-> (hyphen). Blanks or spaces within the name are not permitted. As in DOS, a file may have a type following the filename, separated by a period, for example, FIRST.TEXT. A type has essentially the same rules as a filename.

Your file names must be unique. VMS will not allow you to use two or more files with identical names because it would not be able to tell which one you meant when you called for it. But if you edit a file and then save the changed file, isn’t there a duplicate filename? Not really. VMS labels the first file created as version 1, for example, FIRST.TEXT;1, the next version 2, for example, FIRST.TEXT;2, etc. The highest numbered version is the current file. At The University of Memphis, the system keeps only the three latest versions of any file, though the version numbers continue to increment (up to a limit of 32,767).

4.2. Directories

The VMS system automatically creates a “home” directory for you, which is probably given a name similar to your username. Any operations that you specify are presumed to apply to the files in that directory unless you tell the system otherwise.

You may create subdirectories branching off the home directory, and subdirectories branching off subdirectories, and . . . well, you get the point by now. If you have used Microsoft DOS on the microcomputer and know anything about the tree-structured directories that it allows, you can apply that knowledge, with a few changes, to the VMS way of doing directories. VMS allows up to seven levels of subdirectories beneath the root or home directory. You probably shouldn’t create directories that deep; one or two levels should be quite enough.

Why use subdirectories? For small numbers of files, you probably don’t need them. But if you have large numbers of files, it is convenient to put all those related to the same subject in one subdirectory, those related to another subject in another subdirectory, etc. You might put all your SPSS files in [.SPSS], all your Pascal files in [.PASCAL], etc. That way, you can work with them more easily.

The system always assumes you are referring to your current directory unless you tell it otherwise. To create a subdirectory branching off the current directory:

$ create /directory [.subdirectoryname] <Enter>

You may, of course, specify the parent directory in the command, and if the subdirectory is to branch off from a directory that is not the current directory, you must specify exactly where you want it:

$ create /directory [directoryname.subdirectoryname] <Enter>

(You may create a new subdirectory using the Directory/File Manager, but I haven’t explained the Manager yet. The procedure is covered in section 5.)

To move to the new subdirectory and make it the current directory:

$ set default [.subdirectoryname] <Enter>

If you have changed directories and are not sure which directory you are in at the moment, you can find out by

$ show default <Enter> or $ show def <Enter>

Don’t worry that there may be something in front of even your home directory’s name. Technically, your home directory is a subdivision of a certain device (probably a disk drive with a cryptic name like E240E), and it in turn is a subdivision of the node, so the full name of a file in your subdirectory might be

LATTE::E240E:[ASURVIVR.SUBDIRECTORYNAME]FILENAME.TYPE;1

That’s why it’s nice to be able to assume all except the filename, type, and version number by having a current directory. (Notice that each part of that enormously long name has distinctive punctuation, so we can tell at a glance what each part might be. The directory names are always enclosed in square brackets.)

If you are in a subdirectory and wish to move to the directory from which it branches off, you can do so either by naming the parent directory:

$ set def [asurvivr] <Enter>

or by using the convenient shorthand notation

$ set def [-] <Enter> (that’s a minus sign inside the brackets)

You can move upward two levels in the directory structure by

$ set def [-.-] <Enter>

No matter what subdirectory you may be in, an easy way to return to your home directory is:

$ set def sys$login <Enter>

Many of the procedures that once required a lot of typing at the DCL command line may now be accomplished through the use of a Directory/File Manager available from the main menu (select “Directory/File Service”), or you may invoke it from the $ prompt by the command

$ swing <Enter>

While this manager is very useful, it is also potentially very dangerous — you can do a lot of irreparable damage to your directories and files with a few keystrokes if you’re not careful. I thought about not even mentioning it, but it’s there on the main menu, and you will probably discover it sooner or later anyway. Better that you should know a little bit about how it works and how dangerous it can be than to attempt to use it knowing nothing at all about it.

You will first see a screen from the Directory Manager that lists all your directories and the operations you can perform on them:

    Create  Rename  Delete  Move  pUrge  Quit  Help  Files  Locate  ?
    ASURVIVR|PASCAL                                     13 Sep 09:06
            |SPSS
            |GOODSTUFF
            |JUNK
            |REALJUNK
            

Although you perhaps cannot see it in this printed example, the main directory ASURVIVR is high-lighted or in inverse video, indicating the directory that can be worked with. You may have only a main directory unless you have (as I do) sub-directories to help organize your files into coherent groups. Using the cursor-movement keys, you may move the high-lighting to any directory you wish to work with. An operation is invoked by entering the capital letter associated with it — <C> to create, <U> to purge, etc.

You may rename a directory if you don’t like its current name. For example, I could move the high-lighting to the directory named JUNK, enter <R>, and enter the new and more descriptive directory name GARBAGE.

You may create a subdirectory by moving the high-lighting to the directory from which you wish the subdirectory to branch off, pressing <C>, and then entering the name of the new subdirectory.

Probably you will want to work with the files contained in a directory. The files in any high-lighted directory will be displayed if you enter <F> or if you simply press <Enter>. Listed below are some of the files in directory ASURVIVR (this is only the first of several screens needed to list all the files):

 Edit  eXecute  Copy  Rename  Delete   Move  pUrge  Quit  Help  List  ?
 [E240E068,ASURVIVR]          E240E:[ASURVIVR]             13 Sep 09:07
------------ FILE MANAGER  *.*    QUOTA 10000 USED 1434  ---------------
|-> .PLAN;2                       1/5  13-JAN-97  (RWED,RWED,RE,RE)    |
|   ALMANAC.COM;1                 1/5   7-FEB-94  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   BANJO.TEXT;1                  3/5  19-MAR-93  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   CONVERT.COM;1                4/10  24-OCT-89  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   GOPHERRC.;25                30/30  25-MAR-94  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   GREETING.COM;14               2/5  17-OCT-96  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   IATH.;1                       1/5  23-MAR-94  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   IRWIN.MARCH_9;1               2/5   9-MAR-94  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   LOGICAL.OUT;1               77/80  30-SEP-89  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   LOGIN.COM;1                   1/5  17-OCT-89  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
|   MAIL$CD6E4CC000050097.MAI;1  8/10  13-JAN-97  (RW,RW,,)            |
|   MYFRIENDS.DIS;1               1/5   8-JAN-97  (RWED,RWED,RE,)      |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| current file no 1  total files 61  files selected 0 display format 0 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again, as with the Directory Manager, you may perform an operation on a file (or a group of files, as I shall show you) by entering the capital letter associated with that operation. Most of the operations are self-explanatory, but I call attention to a few that perhaps are not obvious.

Here “List” really means to print on a VMS-cluster printer. (If you simply want to view the contents of a file, move the --> pointer to the file and press <Enter>. If you want to be able to change the contents of the file as well as view them, enter <E> (for EDIT).)

I have never found a way to use the COPY command to create a file with the same contents but a different name within the same directory (it’s easy to do this at the $ prompt). All I can accomplish with the COPY command is to create a copy of it with the same name in another directory.

You cannot execute most of your files, so don’t try.

You may create groups of files for the purpose of applying the same operation to all of them. To add a file to a group, move the --> pointer to it and press <Spacebar>. You could, for example, mark any number of files and then delete all of them at one time (VMS will ask you twice if you really want to do that). To mark all files at once press <A>; to clear all marks at once press <Z>.

The figures that look like fractions give relative sizes of the files, but I cannot give you a meaningful short description of how it is done. The letters R, W, E, and D within parentheses indicate who has the authority or privilege to do certain things with the file. For example, only the VMS “system” and I (as the “owner”) have the privilege of “writing” (changing) and “deleting” .PLAN; anyone within my workgroup (but then I have no fellow-workers, so I am the only one in my workgroup) or anyone in “the world” has the theoretical privilege of “reading” (viewing its contents) and “executing” (letting it run or “do its thing”). Your instructor will probably tell you what a .PLAN file is used for; you probably will have RE privileges with his .PLAN file and possibly with other files as well.

You may be wondering if your files are adequately protected, since you probably have done nothing to set protection levels on them. Don’t worry. The VMS system automatically protects any files you create so that only you and “the system” have access to them (as with most files in the example above). That is, you have to take positive action to let anybody else mess with them (as with the .PLAN file above), and as an ordinary user you most likely will never do it. If, however, for some reason you do want to allow others (“group” and “the world”) access to a file, move the --> pointer to the file, press <Spacebar> to highlight it, press <@>, and type Y <Enter> to confirm you want to change protection. In response to the question, type:

(g:re,w:re) <Enter>

If you prefer to work at the $ prompt, get there and issue the command

$ set protection=(g:re,w:re) filename.type <Enter>

If you want to allow others to change or delete the file (I don’t see why you would want to do this, but it’s OK with me), you of course would have to start the process as described above and then type:

(g:rwed,w:rwed) <Enter>

Or, at the $ prompt, issue the command

$ set protection=(g:rwed,w:rwed) filename.type <Enter>

There are some other ways to change protection; get to the $ prompt and issue the command

$ help set protection <Enter>

If you study the help which is furnished, especially the examples, you will learn everything about how to change the protection level of any of your files.

When you have finished managing your files, enter <Q> to quit. You are then returned to the Directory Manager, and there you may choose another directory to work with or enter <Q> to quit from it.

That’s all I’m going to say about Directory/File Manager here. When you gain some experience in managing files and presumably know very well what you are doing, go to the CS Helpdesk (Administration Building 124) and request their handout on SWING (that’s what they call this Directory/File Manager) — it will give you full information on all the operations you may perform, including some that do not even appear on the menu. You may then fold, staple, spindle, and mutilate your directories and files to your heart’s content.

5.1. Printing Hard Copy of a File

To print the contents of a text file, using the File Manager mark the file and enter <L> (for LIST). In DCL, this is done by:

$ print filename.type <Enter>

The printer will be the system printer, and the output will be sent to the Input/Output Room in Administration Building 112, where it will be sorted out into boxes corresponding to the usernames on the printouts. I might expect my printouts to be in the S box because my surname is Survivor, but because my username is ASURVIVR they will actually be in the A box.

If you are working at or near a remote printer site, you may direct the output to that printer. Or you want to use a special laser printer that prints certain types of files or prints in certain ways, with the output going to the I/O Room. Use a qualifier on the print command:

$ print /queue=xxxx filename.type <Enter>

where XXXX is to be replaced by the name of the print queue. There are dozens of print queues in use by the VMS system; the ones that will be most useful to you are:

MCWLASER1 McWherter Library

WDLASER1 Mathematics Building

ETLASER1 Engineering Technology Building

BBLASER1 Business Building

SIMPLEX Prints ordinary text on one side

SYS$LAND Prints ordinary text on both sides (landscape)

SYS$PORT Prints ordinary text on both sides (portrait)

PS_SIMPLEX Prints PostScript text on one side

PS_LPS Prints PostScript text on both sides

5.2. Listing of Files by Name

Using the Directory Manager, high-light the desired directory and enter <F> (for FILES) or simply press <Enter>. In DCL,

$ directory <Enter> or $ dir <Enter>

will give you a listing of all files in the current directory. As in Microsoft DOS, you may get a listing of any particular file by

$ dir filename.type <Enter>

The “wild card” symbol * may be used to represent any number of characters. For example,

$ dir *.sps <Enter>

will list all files with the .SPS type, and

$ dir gr*.txt <Enter>

will list all files whose names start with GR and whose type is .TXT.

The “wild card” symbol % may be used to represent a character in a certain position in the filename or type (it is similar to ? in Microsoft DOS). For example, to list all files with three-letter types that end with AS, such as BAS (for BASIC files) or PAS (for Pascal files):

$ dir *.%as <Enter>

(% is not used nearly so frequently as *, but there are times when it can be very handy to have it around.)

You may get a listing of files in any subdirectory you have by giving the full specification for the subdirectory. For example, if you are username JDOAKES and have a subdirectory called SUB1, you can get a listing of the files in the subdirectory by the command

$ dir [jdoakes.sub1] <Enter>

A convenient way to get a listing of all your files in all your directories is

$ dir [...] <Enter>

All the DIRECTORY commands above produce only a listing of files by name. To get a listing by name, time of creation, and date of creation (similar to the listing in Microsoft DOS), use

$ dir /date <Enter>

To see what protection levels are set on files, use

$ dir /prot <Enter>

To get a very complete listing of all the attributes of the files, use

$ dir/ full <Enter>

5.3. Copying a File to Another File

You may wish to make a duplicate of a file under another name. As I explained above, I have never been able using the File Manager to create the second file within the same directory. I have been able to create a copy of the original file with the same name in a different directory. After you move the --> pointer to a filename and enter <C> (for COPY), you will be directed to move the cursor to the directory in which you want the copy of the file to be created.

In DCL, copying to another file is done by

$ copy oldfilename.type newfilename.type <Enter>

(The third element in the command could be [NEWDIRNAME]NEWFILENAME.TYPE; this would effectively be the same as the COPY command in the File Manager.) Incidentally, the copying of a file to a new file does not change the old file in any way. It is still there, exactly as it was before you made a copy of it.

5.4. Deleting a File

To delete a file using the File Manager, move the --> pointer to the filename and enter <D> (for DELETE). In DCL:

$ delete filename.type;# <Enter> [where # is the version number]

You may use * and % as “wild cards” to delete more than one file at a time. (With the File Manager, you must “mark” the files by pressing <Spacebar> on individual filenames to create a group for deleting all at once.) VMS will not let you delete a file using DCL unless you give a specific version number or a “wild card” for the version number; this caution is designed to help prevent unintentional deletions. (The File Manager always asks you a couple of times if you really want to delete a file or files before it will do it.)

$ delete filename.type;* <Enter>

will delete all versions of a file.

$ delete *.sps;* <Enter>

will delete all versions of all files that have .SPS as a type.

To delete all but the most recent version of all files in the directory, in the Directory Manager, highlight the desired directory and press <U>; you will be asked twice to confirm the purging. Or at the $ prompt, enter:

$ purge <Enter>

You may, of course, specify a particular filename to be purged, and you may use * and % as “wild cards” to purge more than one file. PURGE keeps only the most recent version of a file. If you want to keep more, you can use the /KEEP qualifier, specifying the number of versions to keep. PURGE in this case will keep the latest versions up to that number. For example,

$ purge /keep=2 <Enter>

keeps the two most recent versions of each file. The /KEEP qualifier is somewhat limited at The University of Memphis. PURGE without the /KEEP qualifier keeps only the latest version. The system is configured to keep only the three latest versions, dropping the earlier ones automatically as new versions are created (this policy is designed to keep the storage disks from being overloaded with obsolete files). So /KEEP=2 is the only meaningful qualifier that can be used.

It is easy to delete or purge files you meant to keep, especially through the use of ill-considered “wild cards.” To prevent such losses you may use the /CONFIRM qualifier.

$ delete /confirm *.sps;* <Enter>

will stop at each version of your .SPS files and ask if you wish to delete it or not. Similarly,

$ purge /confirm <Enter>

will stop at each version (except the latest) of all files and ask if you wish to purge it or not.

5.5. Interrupting Output and Terminating Execution

When you are executing a command file on the terminal screen, the lines of output may display too fast to be read or they may “run off” the top of the screen before you can read them, and you may wish to “freeze” the lines so that you can examine them more closely or at more leisure. Press <Hold Screen> or <Ctrl><S>. The computer will stop the output temporarily. To resume the output, press <Hold Screen> again or press <Ctrl><Q>.

If for any reason you wish to terminate the output before it has run fully (possibly because you have discovered an error or have realized the output will run much longer than anticipated), press <Ctrl><Y>. The computer will halt and return a prompt character or return to the menu. <Ctrl><C> often works the same as <Ctrl><Y>.

5.6. Spell-Checking a Document

The spell checker that is described in detail in section 6.4, on the EVE editor may be invoked to check the spelling of any text file:

$ spell filename.type <Enter>

Follow the instructions in section 6.4.

5.7. Changing Your Password

For the security of your files, VMS will force you to change your password at least once every three months. You may change it any time you wish. ALWAYS change the password immediately if you suspect someone has discovered it. Changing your password is almost identical to what you did when you logged in for the first time, except that now you start the process. Choose the item “Define a new Login Password” from the main menu, or in DCL issue the command:

$ set password <Enter>

This will cause the system to ask you first for your old password, then for your new password, and then for verification (re-entering) of your new password. None of the passwords will be displayed on the screen as you type. If you type any part wrong, you will have to repeat the entire procedure.

Remember that the password must be at least six characters long and cannot be a common word contained in VMS’s “dictionary”; use some arbitrary characters, for example, hist1ory2 .

5.8. Getting Information About the System

You have a finite amount of space allotted to you by VMS for the storage of your files. When you use it up, you can’t do any VMS operations that involve disk storage. That’s why it’s important that you delete old mail messages (see section 7.3) and purge old versions of your files (see section 5.4) from time to time. To see where you stand at any given time on disk storage:

$ show quota <Enter>

This will tell you how much space you are allotted and how much you are currently using.

You may want to know if your friend across the campus is using a computer in VMS cluster at the moment.

$ show users username <Enter> or $ sh us username <Enter>

will let you know. USERNAME may be the complete username or a truncation of it. If you want to know if your friend JDOAKES is online, use JDOAKES for USERNAME. A typical report:

OPenVMS User Processes at 13-SEP-1999 10:52:10.59
Total number of users = 1,  number of processes = 2
Username   Node     Interactive  Subprocess   Batch
JDOAKES   LATTE            1         1

$ show users username /full <Enter>

will report somewhat more information about the user or users:

OpenVMS User Processes at 13-SEP-1999 10:52:36.31
Total number of users = 1,  number of processes = 2
Username   Node   Process Name    PID     Terminal
JDOAKES   LATTE   JDOAKES_1     20425AF2  (subprocess of 20425CE7)
JDOAKES   LATTE   Janie D.      20425CE7  LTA89:   (DS500/LC-1-13)

If no one online is using the USERNAME you supplied, the message from VMS will be similar to the following:

%SHOW-I-NOSUCHUSER, no processes found for user JDOAKES

If you’re wondering why John Smith hasn’t replied to the message you sent last week, you can use the FINGER command on his VMS username to tell you when he last logged in.

$ finger jsmith <Enter>

JSMITH  John Smith    JSMITH not logged in
Last login Fri 20-Dec-97 8:40PM-CST

Or, if you’re lucky enough to find him online at the moment, that command will tell you what VMS process he is using:

JSMITH  John Smith  2042468C   MAIL           LTA199DS500/LC-8-2

In the following sections, I teach you only the features you’ll need to create simple text files, such as the ones you might use with SPSS or MAIL.

EVE works much like a simple word-processor. It has special keystrokes that activate the features, but especially when you use a microcomputer as a terminal it will be difficult if not impossible for you to enter those keystrokes, so my instructions will depend heavily upon the use of what Digital’s documentation calls the <Do> key, which allows you to type in the commands for the features. This key actually exists on VMS keyboards. On a microcomputer running a communications program or other terminal emulator, the <Do> key may be almost anywhere, depending on how the program “maps” the keyboard. Find out what your program uses (try <F4> or <F12> or <Shift><F6> as possibilities) and substitute it for <Do> in the examples below.

As with most programs in VMS, online help is available for EVE:

<Do>

help <Enter> or help xxx <Enter> [where xxx = the feature with which you need help, such as SELECT]

There is a tutorial in VMS that teaches EVE in detail. From the main menu, choose “University Information” and from that menu choose “Online Tutorials” — you will see the tutorial for EVE listed along with several others; choose it.

6.1. How EVE Works

You do not even need to use an editor to create text files in VMS, if you are careful about typing. You can use the command create filename.type, type in the text, press <Ctrl><Z> to end the procedure, and the text will be entered into the named file. Ordinarily, though, you will create your files in the editor: EVE — the Extensible Vax Editor.

EVE creates a work buffer that may be compared to a scratch pad in ordinary writing. Just as the scratch pad is not the finished document, so the EVE buffer is not a computer file, though it may be a copy of one or it may be converted into one. After you have made several changes in a paper, you may be ready to label it as the latest “official” version of the document. Similarly, after you have used EVE to correct and rearrange, you may designate the latest version in the work buffer to be copied into computer storage (through the EXIT command). Again, if you have a previously-completed document, you might make a photocopy of it to work on revisions without actually marking up the “official” document. You might decide to deliberately create a new version of the file (in EVE, you would use the EXIT command), or you might decide after all that the old version was better and discard the copy (in EVE, you do this by giving the command QUIT instead of EXIT).

6.2. Creating a New File in EVE

Entry to EVE is made in the File Manager by pressing <Ctrl><E> and supplying a name for the new file, or at the $ prompt by the command

$ edit /tpu <Enter> or $ edit /tpu filename.type <Enter>

If you do not supply a filename on the command line, EVE will assume that you are creating a new file which is as yet unnamed; at the end of the editing session, you will be asked to supply a filename.

EVE will check to see if the named file already exists. If it does not, you will get on a status line the message

Editing new file. Could not find: FILENAME.TYPE

The symbol [End of file] indicates that you are already at the end of the file, which is correct, since the file is empty at this point. A status line will indicate that you are in a buffer that has the same name as the filename you supplied on the command line or the name MAIN if you did not supply a filename.

Other than the symbol [End of file] and the presence of a status line near the bottom of the screen, there is no special prompt to show that you are using EVE. You may now type in whatever text you desire, such as, for example:

title ’whatever you want to have printed’ <Enter>

get file = whatever <Enter>

. . .

finish <Enter>

If you are entering the text of an SPSS program (as the example supposes) you will need to add a <Enter> character to conclude each line. If your text is not a program, you will probably want EVE to do an automatic word-wrap at the end of each line, and you will add <Enter> characters only to conclude each paragraph and create blank lines.

If you need to make any changes in what you have entered, follow the instructions in section 6.4.

When you have finished typing in the text,

<Ctrl><Z> or <Do> followed by exit <Enter>

will exit the editor and save the text to a disk file with the filename and type that you gave when you entered the editor, or with the filename that you now supply if you called EVE without a filename.

Incidentally, if you should get so confused in entering your text that it is not worth saving, you should leave the editor with the command QUIT instead of EXIT. QUIT “throws away” all the material in the work buffer instead of writing it to disk under a filename. If you issue the QUIT command, you will receive a warning:

Buffer modifications will not be saved, continue quitting [Yes]?

The [Yes] indicates that if you press <Enter> you are in effect saying “yes”; if you issued the QUIT command by mistake, type no <Enter> to get back to the file in the buffer.

6.3. Calling up an Old File in EVE

The file must previously have been saved, or there will be nothing to call up, naturally.

In the File Manager, highlight the file and press <E>. (Or you may simply press <Ctrl><E> and give the name of the existing file — although the HELP menu says this is the procedure to edit a new file, it will work with an existing file too). Or at the $ prompt, enter the command

$ edit /tpu filename.type <Enter>

The difference is that if the file already exists, you will not be told it does not exist. The file will be loaded into the editing buffer and you may then use the editing procedures described in the next section.

6.4. Changing and Deleting in EVE

In EVE, any changes you make are made immediately in the work buffer, which you should remember is only a copy of the file. To record the change in a new version of the file, you must leave the editor with the <Ctrl><Z> or EXIT command after a change or series of changes.

After calling up the file you will probably want to examine it. If it is a short file, all of it will probably be displayed on the screen. (You can tell if you are seeing the end of the file, because the symbol [End of file] will be visible.) If you have a long file, you can see the next screen by:

<Do>

next screen <Enter> or n s <Enter>

This command may be repeated to see each screen in turn.

To get to the very beginning of the file in a hurry:

<Do>

top <Enter>

To get to the very end of the file in a hurry:

<Do>

bottom <Enter>

There are numerous possibilities for changing and deleting. Here are a few of the most common examples.

A spell checker may be invoked within EVE:

<Do>

spell <Enter>

The spell checker is pretty good on ordinary words, but of course its internal dictionary doesn’t contain a lot of proper names or specialized vocabulary, so it will query you about those as well as about misspelled ordinary words. When it finds a questionable word, a status line appears that says:

Options: Right Wrong Personal Ignore Junk Check Guess Quit Help Edit Skip

If you are sure the questioned word is correct, you may enter <R>, <P>, <I>, or <S>.

If you enter <R> the spell checker will resume its scanning for misspelled words and propose that the word be entered in the main dictionary (you don’t have the privilege to enter words directly into the main dictionary).

If you enter <P> the word will be entered into your personal dictionary file, which in the future will be consulted along with the built-in dictionary; a word found in either dictionary will be presumed to be spelled correctly.

If you enter <I> the word will be entered into a list that will be ignored in all future spell checks.

If you enter <S> the word is skipped over, but any future occurrence of the same word will again be queried.

If the questioned word is incorrect, you may enter <C>, <W>, <E>, or <G>.

The <C> option is useful if you aren’t sure that your intended correction is actually correct. The spell checker will consult its dictionary for any word that you propose until you either find one that is in the dictionary (and presumably correct, therefore) or you quit.

The <W> option allows you to type in the correction for this occurrence only.

The <E> option allows you to type in a correction which will be suggested to apply to any and all later occurrences — you will be shown each occurrence and asked if you want to apply the change to it. If you answer “no,” you will then be asked if you want to substitute anything else for that occurrence.

The <G> option is interesting — it lets the spell checker “guess” what you might have intended by the questioned word. If there is more than one possibility, each possibility will be assigned a letter and you may make the substitution simply by typing the letter. For example, if you let the spell checker guess at the misspelling “lettre” it may suggest:

A: lettuce B: letter C: latter D: litter

and you may make the substitution “letter” by entering <B>.

When the spell checking has been completed, you will get a message to that effect and you may then return to the editor.

If you prefer to do your own “proofreading” instead of letting the spell checker do it for you, EVE has the ability to find and replace and works like many word-processors. To find any particular string of characters, such as “data”:

<Do>

find data <Enter>

Notice that I put the word “data” in lower-case characters. There is a good reason for this — if you enter the string to be searched for in lower-case, EVE will find any occurrence of the word, regardless of capitalization, such as “DATA”, “Data”, “data”, and even “daTa”. If you use upper-case in the search string, EVE will find only strings with exactly the capitalization that you use. For example, if the search string is “daTa”, EVE will find only “daTa” and not “DATA”, “data”, “Data”, “datA”, etc.

After EVE has found the first occurrence of the search string, you may direct it to look for the next occurrence by:

<Do>

find next <Enter> or f n <Enter>

Suppose that you have used the word “job” consistently in a document and decide that perhaps “task” would be a better word to use. With the cursor at the beginning of the document, start the process of replacing by:

<Do>

replace <Enter> or rep <Enter>

EVE will then ask you to type what is to be replaced:

Old String:

You respond:

job <Enter>

EVE will then ask you to type the replacement:

New String:

You respond:

task <Enter>

EVE will then look for the word “job” and when it finds the first occurrence, it will highlight the word and ask:

Replace? Type Yes, No, All, Last, or Quit?

This gives you the opportunity to decide how EVE should deal with the word each time it finds it. If you enter <Y>, EVE will change this occurrence, search for the next occurrence, and present you with the same choices again. If you enter <N>, EVE will skip over this occurrence, search for the next occurrence, and present you with the same choices again. If you enter <A>, EVE will go ahead and find each occurrence and make the replacement without consulting you further. If you enter <L>, EVE makes the replacement and then stops searching. If you enter <Q>, EVE abandons the whole process without making any replacements.

If you need to make simple corrections, you may simply move the cursor to the desired place in the text and make them by deleting or adding characters, words, or lines. EVE ordinarily operates in “insert” mode (indicated by that word on a status line near the bottom of the screen). This means that if you type at any point, you do not replace the character at the cursor. Instead, the characters at and to the right of the cursor are pushed to the right to make room for the inserted character. If you prefer to have what some word-processors call “typeover” mode, but EVE calls “strikeover” mode, you may select it by:

<Do>

change mode <Enter> or ch m <Enter>

Now, whatever you type will completely replace any character that is located at the cursor. You may change back to “insert” mode by issuing the same command. (The command to change modes simply changes from whatever mode EVE is in at the moment to the other mode.)

Depending on the terminal emulation program used, the <Backspace> key may not do what you would expect it to do. Instead of deleting a character to the left of it, it may simply move the cursor to the beginning of the line and delete nothing at all. Or it may display ^H on the screen. Most communications programs use <Ctrl><Backspace> to do a “destructive backspace”; learn to use that keystroke combination instead of a simple <Backspace>. If everything else fails, you must use the <Del> key to delete a character, and the cursor must be to the right of the character to be deleted.

Editing changes that involve deleting more than a few characters are perhaps best made by selecting a “block” of characters and performing an editing function on the entire block at once. In this respect EVE works like many word-processors that run on microcomputers. If you already know how to cut, paste, and copy with a word-processor, with a few changes of keystrokes you can do the operations with EVE.

Be sure to have the cursor at the very beginning or very end of the block of characters you want to select. Then:

<Do>

select <Enter> or sel <Enter>

EVE will direct you to move the cursor to the end of block. The up-arrow and down-arrow cursor keys select an entire line at a time; the left-arrow and right-arrow cursor keys select a single character at a time. Selection is indicated by high-lighting (inverse video) on the screen. When you have reached the end of the desired block, press <Enter> to stop the selection and the high-lighting on the screen. (If you want to select all of the file at once, issue the command select all; no cursor movement will be needed.)

Once the block is selected, you may delete it altogether, move it to another place in the file, or make a copy of it to be placed somewhere else in the file. Deleting and moving start out the same way:

<Do>

cut <Enter>

The selected block will disappear from the screen. If you want to delete it, you have done it. Just move on. Actually the selected block has been stored somewhere in VMS memory (the “clipboard”) and will be available for a PASTE operation any time until you perform another CUT operation, at which time the newly-cut block replaces it in memory. So if you want to move the selected block from its previous place to a new place in memory, move the cursor to the place where you want the block to re-appear and

<Do>

paste <Enter> or pas <Enter>

There it is, “cut” from its original position and “pasted” into the new position. (The operation of deleting is a CUT without a PASTE following it.)

You may want to leave the selected block in its original place and make a copy of it elsewhere in the file. This is easy. Instead of the CUT command, you issue first the command to COPY and then to PASTE:

<Do>

copy <Enter>

The high-lighting on the selected block will disappear, but the text will remain. Move the cursor to the place in the file where you want the copy to appear and

<Do>

paste <Enter> or pas <Enter>

Obviously, both the CUT and the COPY operations put copies of the selected block in memory (on the “clipboard”). CUT removes the selected block from its original position; COPY keeps the selected block in its original position.

What might not be obvious to you is that you can make multiple copies of what is on the “clipboard” by repeating the PASTE command. You can make as many copies as you like. It is somewhat like a rubber stamp that never needs re-inking and never wears out.

(NOTE: There may be some important differences in the way they work, but in my experience, the commands CUT and REMOVE do the same thing, and PASTE and INSERT HERE do the same thing.)

6.5. Recovering Files Lost by Abnormal Exit from EVE

Sometimes disaster strikes when you are editing a file: the electricity goes off, the telephone connection is broken, your terminal “locks up,” or the VMS-cluster computer “crashes.” You might assume that your editing changes are lost when you can’t save them by exiting from the editor. Not necessarily. There is a good chance you can recover most, if not all, of the editing session. VMS has a facility that periodically saves your keystrokes to what is called a “journal” file (if you ever see a file with the type .JOU on it, that’s it), which can be used “recover” your “lost” file. Call up the “lost” file by issuing the command

$ edit /tpu /recover filename.type <Enter>

You will be presented with all the text that was in the file at the last periodic “save” before the interruption took place. With luck, it may be everything or nearly everything you had edited.

A very convenient feature of the VMS system is an electronic mail (“e-mail”) facility, which allows you to receive messages from other users, to reply to those messages, and to originate your own messages to other users.

You enter the mail system by choosing that option on the main menu or by issuing the command

c $ mail <Enter>

When you have finished your work in MAIL, you return to the menu or the system level by:

MAIL> exit <Enter>

NOTE: Online help is available for MAIL:

MAIL> help <Enter>

For a more complete explanation of the MAIL facility, using the menu system, choose “University Information” from the main menu and “Online Tutorials” from the succeeding menu.) Like all the online tutorials in VMS, this one is very informative.

7.1. Customizing the VMS Mail System

If you don’t deliberately choose another editor, MAIL will automatically use the EVE editor. (If you prefer no editor at all, use the /noedit option with the MAIL commands that involve textual entry (SEND, REPLY, FORWARD)).

You will be shown how to keep copies of any individual message that you send, reply, or forward. If you want to keep copies of all messages in one or more of the categories:

MAIL> set copy_self send <Enter>

MAIL> set copy_self reply <Enter>

MAIL> set copy_self forward <Enter>

or to do it all in one command:

MAIL> set copy_self send, reply, forward <Enter>

If you want to turn off these options:

MAIL> set copy_self nosend, noreply, noforward <Enter>

If you want the mail system to prompt you for usernames to whom you would like to send “carbon copies” of messages addressed to others:

MAIL> set cc_prompt <Enter> or set cc <Enter>

You may, of course, leave the CC: line blank if you don’t want to send a carbon copy of a particular message. If you have set the carbon copy option and wish to turn it off:

MAIL> set nocc_prompt <Enter> or set nocc <Enter>

Unless you use another SET command, the messages you send will have only your VMS username on the FROM: line. That’s usually good enough, because usernames are usually based on the user’s “real” name. But if you want people to know exactly what your name is, you can use a command like this:

MAIL> set personal_name “Alan Turing” <Enter>

will add “Alan Turing” to the FROM: line on your messages and give your correspondents a good clue as to who the sender “really” is.

(These SET commands are “remembered” by VMS. You do not have to issue them every time you enter the MAIL system; they will be in effect until you issue another SET command for the particular feature.)

Another way of identifying yourself (which may be used instead of or in addition to SETting PERSONAL_NAME) is to create, using an editor, a text file named MAIL_EDIT.SIG; this file will automatically be appended to all your messages if you use EVE as your MAIL editor. (You will see an example of a .SIG file — mine -- in the following section.)

7.2. Messages

If you have new mail waiting for you when you log in, you will be notified by a “beep” and a message to that effect. (Moreover, if someone sends you a message while you are logged in, you will get a notice of it. This message may look as if it has become part of the text you’re working with. It hasn’t really; it just looks that way. If the notice bothers you or gets in the way, press <Ctrl><W> to “refresh” the screen and it will disappear.)

To read or send messages, enter the mail system; choose that option on the main menu or issue the command:

$ mail <Enter>

You will get a new prompt: MAIL>. To read your first message:

MAIL> read /new <Enter>

or simply press <Enter> .

To reply to a message that has just been read:

MAIL> reply <Enter> or MAIL> answer <Enter>

If you want to keep a copy of the reply, use:

MAIL> reply /self <Enter> or MAIL> answer /self <Enter>

You will go into the EVE editor, where you will find that the complete text of the original message is “quoted.” You can use editing commands to delete any part of it you don’t want quoted. If you don’t want EVE to quote any part of the original message, use the command REPLY /NOEXTRACT. The purpose of quoting is so that the receiver will know exactly what you’re responding to. If you say, “I agree — go ahead and do it” without quoting, the receiver might not know to which of his ten suggestions you’re giving your consent. But don’t quote excessively; quote only the parts of the original message that are essential for understanding your reply. Now you can add your own text before saving and sending the message. When you have finished entering your reply, press

<Ctrl><Z>

MAIL will then ask you if you want to spell check your message:

Spell check message [Yes]?

The [Yes] symbol indicates that the spell check will be made if you simply press <Enter>. If you want to skip the spell check, you must type no <Enter>. The spell checker works as described in section 6.4.

When the message has been completely checked, you will get a message to that effect. Again press

<Ctrl><Z>

This time the spell check message will have [No] as its default, since the spell check has just been performed. If you press <Enter>, your message will be sent, and if you have created a special signature file named MAIL_EDIT.SIG, it will be appended to the end of the message. My signature looks like this:

X=======================================================X
|           Hang in there! \\/// A. Survivor            |
|       Computing is easy! (o o) Lake Woebegone, MS     |
|            ----------oOOo-(_)-oOOo------------        |
|              Internet: asurvivr@memphis.edu           |
X=======================================================X

Many persons have big, fancy signature files, but especially if your messages goes over Internet you should limit the signature to four lines at most and use only normal keyboard characters (mine actually has six lines and might be offensive to some Internet users who might use a hundred lines in a message to complain about my “misuse” of resources).

After your message has been sent, you will be returned to the MAIL> prompt. (If you should make such a mess of the message that you want to “throw it away,” you can do so by pressing <Do> and issuing the command QUIT instead of <Ctrl><Z> or <Do>EXIT.)

Continue pressing <Enter> to read each message, until you receive the system message that there are no more mail messages.

You may send new mail to anyone whose username you know. At the MAIL> prompt:

MAIL> send <Enter>

When prompted for the person to whom to send the message,

To: XXXX <Enter> [where XXXX = desired username]

(Notice that you need enter only the username, because the system will assume the receiver is at The University of Memphis. You could — if you wish — add @memphis.edu to the username.) If you don’t know the username of someone on the campus, you can find it by selecting the item “User Directory” on the University Information menu and following the directions there. If you are at the $ prompt, you can get to this directory by using the command:

$ vax_accts <Enter>

For persons elsewhere, there are some directories available on Internet, but no comprehensive directory yet exists. In many cases you can find out a person’s e-mail address only by asking for it in a U. S. Mail (“snail-mail”) or telephone message.

If the person is not at The University of Memphis, you must use the “fully-qualified” e-mail address — giving the computer at which the person receives his or her mail: Internet messages:

To: username@computername.institution.domain <Enter>

For example, to send a message to a special service at Michigan State University:

To: listserv@h-net.msu.edu <Enter>

After you have entered the address, you will then be asked to enter a subject line, which can be blank if you desire, then to enter the text of your message. Proceed as directed above in the entering and saving of the text.

You can send the same message to several persons by including several usernames in answer to the prompt for a username; just separate the usernames with a comma between them.

If you want to send the same message to many persons, it will be more convenient to have a distribution list already prepared in a text file with the type .DIS and to give @FILENAME as the answer to the prompt for the username. Assume that you have prepared, using EVE, a file named MYFRIENDS.DIS, in which each username is listed on a separate line. To send the same message to all, you would simply supply @MYFRIENDS (the type .DIS is assumed) in answer to the prompt for username.

You can keep for yourself a copy of a message you send to someone else by invoking the SEND command as

MAIL> send /self <Enter>

If you are reading a message and want to send a copy of it to someone:

MAIL> forward <Enter>

To keep for yourself a copy of the forwarded message for yourself, use:

MAIL> forward /self <Enter>

After you have given a username of the person to whom the message is to be forwarded, you will go into the EVE editor, where you will find that the complete text of the original message is “quoted.” You can use editing commands to delete any part of it you don’t want forwarded, and you can add your own text before saving and sending the message.

If you want a “hard copy” of the message you are reading or have just read, use

MAIL> print <Enter>

You may use the /QUEUE= qualifier to direct the output to any printer you wish (see section 5.1).

If you want to create a regular VMS file that contains the text of the message (you might want to create an archive of important messages, for example):

MAIL> extract /nohead filename.type <Enter>

If you don’t supply a type, VMS will automatically use .TXT as the type. The /NOHEAD option removes all local header material from the message. Alas! if the message arrived from off-campus, all of its lengthy off-campus header material will go into the file, and you probably will want to edit it out.

Any time you want to skip the rest of the current message that you’re reading, you may issue the command:

MAIL> next <Enter>

You might want to remember to issue this command after you’ve replied to a message, because VMS routinely displays that message again after you’ve replied to it. You probably don’t want to read it again.

7.3. Folders

MAIL uses the concept of folders, which are somewhat like directories in DCL. A folder named MAIL is created when you first use the mail system. If you have new mail, the new messages first go into a folder named NEWMAIL; when you have read them, the messages are moved into MAIL. If you delete messages they temporarily go into a folder named WASTEBASKET, which is “emptied” when you exit from the mail system. Any time prior to the exit you may get to the WASTEBASKET and retrieve messages. If you want to empty WASTEBASKET immediately, use the PURGE command.

When you use the DIRECTORY command in MAIL, the listing is of messages within the current folder. (If you’re reading NEWMAIL, you won’t see listings of your older messages. They’re still available, but they’re in folder MAIL instead of NEWMAIL.) To get a listing of the folders available to you:

MAIL> dir /folder <Enter>

You may make any available folder the current folder by

MAIL> select fname <Enter> or MAIL> set folder fname <Enter>

If you are not sure what your current folder is, you may find out by

MAIL> show folder <Enter>

After you have read a message you can put a copy of it in any desired folder by

MAIL> copy fname <Enter>

or you may remove it from the current folder and place it in any desired folder by

MAIL> move fname <Enter>

If the desired folder does not yet exist, you will be asked to confirm that you want it created so that the message can be copied or moved.

You may delete messages entirely. To delete the most recently read message:

MAIL> delete <Enter>

To delete a specific message by number:

MAIL> delete # <Enter> [where # represents the message number]

The qualifier /ALL may be applied to commands such as COPY, MOVE, and DELETE. With the qualifier the command works on all the messages in the current folder. For example,

MAIL> move /all fname <Enter>

moves all messages out of the current folder into the folder FNAME.

You can’t delete a folder, at least not directly. The VMS system automatically deletes a folder when it becomes empty. So you can cause a folder to be deleted by deleting all the messages in it.

NOTE: You probably assume that when you delete messages, you regain the disk space that those messages occupied. You don’t. If you don’t do some more operations periodically, you may eventually have so many messages in your account that you will use up all the disk space that you are allotted. You will get a message that your disk space has been exceeded and you will be unable to save any files at all. To prevent this, periodically delete all the messages you do not want to keep, COMPRESS your file space, and delete the old mail file. Deletion is done according to the instructions above. To compress your file space:

MAIL> compress <Enter>

You will see several messages about operations that involve very long filenames

%MAIL-S-CREATED,
DISK$ZOO:[ASURVIVR]MAIL_08C8_COMPRESS.TMP;1 created

%MAIL-S-COPIED,
DISK$ZOO:[ASURVIVR]MAIL.MAI;1 copied to
DISK$ZOO:[ASURVIVR]MAIL_08C8_COMPRESS.TMP;1 (2 records)

%MAIL-S-RENAMED,
DISK$ZOO:[ASURVIVR]MAIL.MAI;1 renamed to
DISK$ZOO:[ASURVIVR]MAIL.OLD;1

%MAIL-S-RENAMED,
DISK$ZOO:[ASURVIVR]MAIL_08C8_COMPRESS.TMP;1 renamed to
DISK$ZOO:[ASURVIVR]MAIL.MAI;1

When you get the MAIL> prompt again, exit from the mail system:

MAIL> exit <Enter>

If you are using the menu system, get into the Directory/File Manager, move the --> pointer to the filename MAIL.OLD;1 and enter <D> to delete it. Or at the $ prompt issue the command:

$ delete mail.old;1 <Enter>

If you have several versions of MAIL.OLD, you should delete them one by one if you are using the Directory/File Manager. You can delete all versions at once at the $ prompt with:

$ delete mail.old;* <Enter>

NOW you have regained the disk space that your old messages formerly occupied.

Any time you do a listing of files in your directory and see a lot of files with long names and the type .MAI, such as:

MAIL$CE1C7A4500050097.MAI;1

you should probably run through this process of deleting messages, compressing, and deleting the old mail file(s). Each file with the .MAI type represents a message that occupies disk space, and you cannot delete these files with the normal DELETE command.

8.1. Running an SPSS Command File

SPSS is one of the processes that require that you be logged-in to LATTE. It also requires that you be at the $ prompt to begin.

SPSS on a VMS-cluster computer can be run in two different modes: batch and interactive.

(1) In batch mode you create (probably in EVE) the text of the complete list of SPSS commands that you wish to have executed and then submit them to SPSS all at once. For example, you may wish to retrieve the SPSS system file called MYDATA.SAV and get a frequency count of all the variables in it. In EVE, you would create and save a text file called DOTHIS.SPS with the following content:

get file = mydata <Enter>

frequencies general = all <Enter>

finish <Enter>

To run this command file in batch mode:

$ spss dothis <Enter>

The output of the program would then display on the terminal screen. (Note that the default type for SPSS command files is .SPS and that for SPSS system files is .SAV)

If you want to look at the output at your leisure, you may direct it to a disk file on the VMS system:

$ spss /output=results dothis <Enter>

Then you may examine the output by either

$ type results <Enter>

or

$ edit /tpu results.lis <Enter>

(Note that the default type for an SPSS output file is .LIS; SPSS and the DCL commands TYPE and PRINT assume it, but the DCL command EDIT makes no assumptions and has to be given the full file specification.)

If you want the output printed, you may use the PRINT command on the RESULTS.LIS file:

$ print /queue=etlaser1 results.lis <Enter>

This command will send the file to the Engineering Technology laser printer.

If you do not specify in the command line that the file go to a specific printer, the output will be directed to the default system printer:

$ print results.lis <Enter>

would send the results in the disk file to the default system printer, and the printout would go to the Input/Output Room, Administration Building 112.

TECHNICAL NOTE: Although a fairly large amount of disk space is assigned to each username, you may find that SPSS output files, along with your other files, exhaust it. If you have this difficulty, you can work around it by directing your output files to a public disk for temporary storage that has been set up for just such a purpose. One public disk is named TEMP: and a directory named [ONEWEEK] already exists on it. The other is named SCRATCH: and has a directory named [ONEDAY] on it. You may put your files in those directories temporarily or you may create your own subdirectory, for example one named [.MYDIR]:

$ create /directory temp:[oneweek.mydir] <Enter>

and put your files in that subdirectory temporarily. As the names of the directories imply, files on them will be available for either a week or a day before the system deletes them. Every night the system erases files that are over-aged to make room for new files, but if you examine or print out your files within the day or the week, there will be no problem with losing them. Your account is not charged with the storage space as it would be if you put the files in your home directory. If you were to use the SCRATCH: disk (without a subdirectory) for temporary storage, the above listed SPSS command lines might be modified as follows:

$ spss /output=scratch:[oneday]results dothis <Enter>

$ type scratch:[oneday]results <Enter>

$ edit /tpu scratch:[oneday]results.lis <Enter>

$ print /queue=math scratch:[oneday]"esults.lis <Enter>

If you put copies of existing files in these directories, use the CONVERT command instead of the COPY command, as, for example:

$ convert hugefile.text temp:[oneweek]hugefile.text <Enter>

CONVERT gives the file on the TEMP: disk today’s date. COPY would give the file on the TEMP: disk the same date as the original file, which might cause the VMS system to erase the file almost immediately because of its age.

(2) In interactive mode, you enter SPSS without supplying a filename:

$ spss <Enter>

The prompt SPSS> will appear. Then you will be expected to type in a valid SPSS command, ending the command with a period to let SPSS know you have finished entering it. If you press <Enter> before typing a period, SPSS will continue to prompt you for more input until you finally do type a period.

The example above could be executed a step at a time in interactive mode as follows:

SPSS> get file = mydata. <Enter>

SPSS will retrieve MYDATA.SPSSXSAV and give you a message to that effect.

SPSS> frequencies general = all. <Enter>

SPSS will then display the frequencies of each variable on the screen.

SPSS> finish. <Enter>

SPSS will terminate and return you to the system prompt.

If you make an error in your command line, SPSS will tell you what it thinks went wrong, refuse to execute the command, and expect you to re-enter it correctly.

8.2. Checking for Errors on SPSS Runs

As seen above, in interactive mode SPSS gives you immediate indications of errors. If you run SPSS in batch mode with results being sent to the terminal screen, you will see the error messages as they occur, and you will also see the message that SPSS has stopped the execution of your program, although it continues to scan the commands for further errors. If you are sending the output to a file or to a printer, you will not even know of these errors until you examine the output, at which time you will have to edit the command file to eliminate the errors and resubmit the batch file to SPSS.

There is a better way. In batch mode you can submit the command file to the BATCH_EDIT function of the SPSS processor, so that syntax errors can be discovered before you attempt to execute the commands. (Notice the underscore character in BATCH_EDIT; it is NOT a dash or hyphen.)

$ spss /batch_edit dothis <Enter>

If no errors were reported, you would then execute the command file as before. If errors were reported, you would then edit the command file in EVE and resubmit the edited file. If you expect scores of error messages to scroll across the screen because you are such a poor writer of SPSS command files, you probably would want to direct the output to a file that you could TYPE or PRINT later:

$ spss /batch_edit /output=results dothis <Enter>

If you fail to log out properly after using the computer, someone else may be able to use your account for his own purposes and may even be able to change or delete your files. It is strongly recommended, therefore, that you log out properly. Choose the log-out option on the main menu, or issue the command:

$ logout <Enter>

If you have used the dial-up server, you will be returned to the terminal server with the prompt wok>. If you plan to log in to another computer to which you have access, follow the log-in procedure for it. If you have finished all your work, log out from the terminal server.

wok> logout <Enter>

If you used a communications program, you will then need to exit that program according to its established procedures.

Even if you don’t have my guide near you, you’re never far away from help with VMS. It has a very good online HELP facility available at several levels, including the terminal server, the system level (where the $ prompt is showing), and in many applications programs (such as SPSS, EVE, or MAIL).

If you are ever at a loss about how to do anything, try using HELP with the name of whatever you are trying. For example, if you can’t remember how to connect to a computer from the terminal server,

wok> help connect <Enter>

will probably be close enough. Even if the HELP facility doesn’t have exactly what you call for, it will list all the help that is available, by name, in alphabetical order, and you can ask for any topic you see listed. Many topics have subtopics, etc. You can get a fairly liberal education in the VMS system simply by browsing through the help menus and checking into the things that interest you.

Another way to get online help is to run the tutorials that are provided for the VMS operating system and the EVE editor. If you are using a communications program to connect with the terminal server, make certain it is emulating a VT100 or higher-numbered terminal such as VT100 or VT102. The tutorials will not run with VT52 emulation. From the main menu, choose “University Information” and from that menu choose “Online Tutorials” — you will see the various tutorials listed.

In addition to the online help, which is available any time you need it, The University of Memphis Advanced Learning Center offers training sessions in its Learning Lab in 226 FedEx Institute of Technology. Information about the training sessions, including dates and times, may be viewed online by accessing the Advanced Learning Center’s Learning Lab page on the World Wide Web, using the Uniform Resource Locator (be sure to use lower-case characters for this command):

$ lynx http://alc.memphis.edu/learning_lab.html <Enter>

The persons who work for the various units of The University of Memphis Information Systems are very knowledgeable and will be glad to help you. Telephone the IS Helpdesk at 8888 and explain your problem. You may reach the Advanced Learning Center directly at 4191. (Use the exchange prefix 678 if you call from off-campus, for example: 678-8888.)

The original manuscript of the guide to Univac, the forerunner to the guide you are reading now, came to light one Saturday afternoon in May 1982, when a Memphis State University (now The University of Memphis) professor was strolling on the beach near his summer cabin at Lake Woebegone, Mississippi (not to be confused with the more famous lake with a similar name in Minnesota, it is a nice lake nevertheless). The manuscript was found inside a bottle which had washed ashore, and although it was somewhat damp and water-stained, it was perfectly readable. Intrigued, the professor floated a message back out into the lake and was delighted the next weekend to find a reply awaiting him on the beach. As a result of many interchanges of messages, the professor received permission to show the manuscript to the staff of the Memphis State University (now The University of Memphis) Computer Services. The staff made numerous suggestions for corrections and improvements, which were graciously accepted by “A. Survivor,” and eventually Survivor gave his consent for publication of the guide. As noted in his introduction, Survivor later made several revisions in that guide, prepared a guide for the VAX when it came on line, and has now prepared the present updated guide to the VMS cluster.

Little is known of the author. His bottled messages have revealed that his real name is “Addled Survivor,” but he prefers “A. Survivor” as being more dignified and British-like. His former profession remains a mystery, although he obviously at one time had some contact with the academic world. He is now, by deliberate choice, a hermit living on a secluded island far out in the middle of Lake Woebegone. He says that he lives largely on government food stamps, supplemented by the trapping of wild animals and the growing of a vegetable garden, and hereafter (he hopes) the royalties which will come to him from this publication.