10/02/85  Lister

Lister is a set of commands that create, maintain, process, and
produce online lists of information (names, words, etc.).

You can use Lister to produce simple reports.  You can print the
documents on your terminal, save them in a segment, mail them to other
users, or use them for further processing by runoff or compose.


Lister lists: The four elements in a lister list are--
   1. list: a header record and a series of data records.
   2. header record: the first record in a list; it contains data
      record and field delimiter characters.
   3. data records (or records): any number of records that are allowed
      in a list and that are made up of fields.
   4. fields: lowest level of data in a list, e.g., name, address,
      phone number.


Lister files: Lister uses three types of files--
   1. listin: an ASCII file used to input and update a list.  It is
      identified by the ".listin" suffix.
   2. lister: a file containing a list in a form that Lister can
      process.  It is identified by the ".lister" suffix.
   3. listform: a file that defines the format of a document produced
      from a list.  It is identified by the ".listform" suffix.


Summary of lister commands:
append_list    appends a record to a lister file.
create_list    creates a lister file from a listin file.
copy_list	     copies selected records from one lister file to a new
	     one.
describe_list  prints status information about a lister file.
display_list   prints selected fields from selected lister records.
expand_list    creates a listin file from a lister file (useful for
	     disaster recovery or to produce a nicely formatted
	     listin file).
make_list	     creates an empty lister file from information supplied
	     on the command line.
merge_list     merges two lister files.
modify_list    assigns a value to a field(s) in a lister record(s).


process_list   produces a document from all or selected records in a
	     lister file.
sort_list	     sorts the records in a lister file
trim_list	     deletes selected records from a lister file.

There are help files for all lister commands.  For related topics see
listin_segment.gi and listform_segment.gi; for examples see the
Multics WORDPRO Reference Manual (AZ98).


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Historical Background

This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated
to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. 
as a contribution to computer science knowledge.  
This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL
and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. 
Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970),
renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership
of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture 
for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems 
incorporated Multics principles.
Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., 
as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. .

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Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies
and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining
to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.
    Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by Bull SAS
    All Rights Reserved