Scope

• A variety of commands are available that facilitate using Dialog, including
  • Analyzing costs (see also a separate Web pages on controlling costs).
  • Getting help on any operation.
  • Moving around the records.
• I want you to pay particular attention to the "cost" command, as an understanding of the costs of your searching is vital both in the library you may be working in but also in this class, as the occasional student has inadvertently run up thousands of dollars in billing (no, the school is not going to dump on you).

Commands

help

• Just your straight-forward help command.
• It can, though, be combined with a variety of terms or options in the format: help <option>. See help rates below as an example. You can also find the other options by typing: help help

Command	Usage	Examples, Notes
help	h command or file # ? command or file #	h ? select ? 415 h limit 145

cost

• A very important command as noted above. A cost estimate is automatically displayed when you enter begin, logoff, and logoff hold commands.
• The cost command can be entered at any time during your searching to view the estimated costs since you logged on.

Command	Usage	Examples, Notes
cost	cost	Checks costs during a search.

help rates

This will give you rate information about the database you are currently searching.

Command	Usage	Examples, Notes
help rates	help rates <file number>	help rates 415 for database rates

page forward & page backward

Commands	Usage	Examples, Notes
page forward page back	p p-