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Defaults

The concept of "defaults," or command arguments assumed  when  you  do
not  specify  a  choice,  is  important for understanding TOPS-20.  To
speed processing of commands and  to  help  inexperienced  users,  the
system  uses  defaults when necessary for completing commands that you
give.  By taking advantage of this defaulting action, you can make the
system work faster and more efficiently for you.

There  are  different  kinds  of  default.    When   you   give   file
specifications  as  arguments  to,  say, the PRINT command, the system
assumes that you are referring to the highest (most recent) generation
of  these  files  in your connected structure and connected directory.
By specifying a different structure, directory, or generation you  can
override  this  default,  but  only  if  you  already  have  the right
(established by user membership in a group, perhaps,  or  by  a  prior
ACCESS command) to do so.

When you give the INFORMATION BATCH-REQUESTS command  without  further
arguments,  you  are  presented  with a listing of all requests in the
batch input queue.  The /USER switch allows you to limit this  display
to  the  jobs  of  the  user  named.   If  you give the switch without
supplying a user name, your own user name is used  as  default.   (But
the  /USER  switch  to  the  related  SUBMIT  command  has meaning for
privileged users only, who can use it to run batch  jobs  under  other
user  names; for non-privileged users this switch effectively defaults
to your own user name.)  Only a few command arguments behave like  the
/USER switch.  The /TIME switch to the SUBMIT command is worth noting:
by not giving the switch, you set a time limit of 5 minutes; by giving
the  switch  without specifying a time limit, you are setting a 1-hour
limit; and you can set  any  other  time  limit  by  supplying  it  as
argument to the switch.

Note that none of the three switches to INFORMATION BATCH-REQUESTS and
INFORMATION  OUTPUT-REQUESTS  (/ALL,  /FAST,  and  /USER) is used as a
default:  each calls for a listing that differs in some respects  from
that  yielded  by  the  unmodified  command.  However, the INFORMATION
LOGICAL-NAMES command, which allows keywords ALL, JOB, and SYSTEM, has
JOB  as default for these.  The list of arguments associated with each
command makes these choices clear.

To discover what default  argument  (if  any)  is  established  for  a
switch,  subcommand,  or  other argument, press the ESC key instead of
giving the argument:  the default will be printed on your terminal.