1 10/02/85  Lister
 2 
 3 Lister is a set of commands that create, maintain, process, and
 4 produce online lists of information (names, words, etc.).
 5 
 6 You can use Lister to produce simple reports.  You can print the
 7 documents on your terminal, save them in a segment, mail them to other
 8 users, or use them for further processing by runoff or compose.
 9 
10 
11 Lister lists: The four elements in a lister list are--
12    1. list: a header record and a series of data records.
13    2. header record: the first record in a list; it contains data
14       record and field delimiter characters.
15    3. data records (or records): any number of records that are allowed
16       in a list and that are made up of fields.
17    4. fields: lowest level of data in a list, e.g., name, address,
18       phone number.
19 
20 
21 Lister files: Lister uses three types of files--
22    1. listin: an ASCII file used to input and update a list.  It is
23       identified by the ".listin" suffix.
24    2. lister: a file containing a list in a form that Lister can
25       process.  It is identified by the ".lister" suffix.
26    3. listform: a file that defines the format of a document produced
27       from a list.  It is identified by the ".listform" suffix.
28 
29 
30 Summary of lister commands:
31 append_list    appends a record to a lister file.
32 create_list    creates a lister file from a listin file.
33 copy_list      copies selected records from one lister file to a new
34                one.
35 describe_list  prints status information about a lister file.
36 display_list   prints selected fields from selected lister records.
37 expand_list    creates a listin file from a lister file (useful for
38                disaster recovery or to produce a nicely formatted
39                listin file).
40 make_list      creates an empty lister file from information supplied
41                on the command line.
42 merge_list     merges two lister files.
43 modify_list    assigns a value to a field(s) in a lister record(s).
44 
45 
46 process_list   produces a document from all or selected records in a
47                lister file.
48 sort_list      sorts the records in a lister file
49 trim_list      deletes selected records from a lister file.
50 
51 There are help files for all lister commands.  For related topics see
52 listin_segment.gi and listform_segment.gi; for examples see the
53 Multics WORDPRO Reference Manual (AZ98).