You use the HELP statements to view the attributes of a database object or session.
The output of HELP results may be wider than 132 characters, too wide for a single screen. To adjust for this, you can format the output of your HELP reports using BTEQ formatting commands. For information about these formatting commands, see Basic Teradata® Query Reference, B035-2414.
Examples of HELP queries are given in the following pages. The contents of HELP reports are explained in the following subsections.
Online HELP Compared to SQL HELP Statements
- SQL HELP returns information on database objects and sessions. See the topics beginning with HELP Statements And HELP Reports.
- Online HELP returns information about SQL statement and utility command syntax.
Notation for Online Help
The notation used to display SQL statement and utility command syntax is simple, as indicated by the following table:
| Notation Element | Description |
|---|---|
| [ ] | The item within the square brackets is optional. |
| { } | The item within the curly braces is required. |
| [ … ] | The item within the square brackets can be repeated. |
| | | Exclusive OR. You can specify either the item to the right of | or the item to its left, but not both. |
Stacked optional items indicate alternatives. For example, the following fragment indicates that you can choose only one of x, y, or z:
[x] [y] [z]
Sequential optional items indicate independent options. For example, the following fragment indicates that you can choose x, y, z, x and y, x and z, y and z, or x, y, and z:
[x] [y] [z]
Topic Keywords
- Archive
- BTEQ
- Dump
- FastExport
- FastLoad
- Help
- MultiLoad
- PMPC
- SPL (stored procedure control language statements)
- SQL
- TPCCONS
The topic and command name entries are not case-sensitive. For information, see the user documentation for the specific application.
Error on Request for Help on a Nonexistent Topic
The response for a HELP query on a nonexistent topic is the following:
Query completed. No rows found.
Response Format
The HELP response comprises a set of rows ordered by line number. The maximum length of each row of text is 80 characters. When accessed through BTEQ, no BTEQ formatting is needed to view the entire HELP message.