There are two ways to retrieve help: 1) Touch the highlighted character next to item you want help on, then browse. 2) Browse using /, PgUp/PgDn, Home/End (referred to as αnavα keys). Important: α···α means data input field. This is where you type in what you are searching for. α^α means to press and hold the Ctrl key then touch the letter that appears immediately to the right. αEscα (from help screen) returns to input screen, (from input screen) returns to DOS. Arguments can be passed to NPA via the DOS command line or full screen query mode (the mode you're in right now). Each mode is described below. Press αTα for help on executing NPA from the DOS command line. Use PgUp, PgDn, , , Home, End to scroll through help screen. α* Full Screen Query Mode *α Touch Tab or Shift-Tab to move from field to field. State/Province/NPA: Enter the official two letter postal code, or portion of state/province name, or NPA (area code). e.g. "TX" will find Texas. αThis is the only required input field.α City/NXX/Zip: Enter first part of city name, NXX (local number prefix), zip code. Setting ^Scan City Name to Yes will locate a city name if argument occurs anywhere within the name. e.g. ^Scan City Name is Yes: "hous" and "oust" both find Houston. ^Scan City Name is No: "hous" finds Houston, "oust" does not. "nnnnn" locates exact zip code. "nnn*" locates all zip codes starting with nnn. Note: State/Province/NPA or * still required in State field. Min/Max # NXX: (NXX = local number prefix) Restrict search to those cities having at least Min NXXs and/or at most Max NXXx. The default minimum varies depending on other search criteria: Default Max is infinite. Only state/province specified: Min = 10 Only NPA specified: Min = 5 City/NXX/Zip also specified: Min = 1 2nd (great circle mileage): NPA will calculate the mileage (as the crow flies) between the 1st and 2nd cities. Each CO (central office) has a dedicated latitude/longitude. There may be many COs in a city. You can request inter-CO (NXX-to-NXX) mileage for a more precise estimate or inter-city (city-to-city) for mileage from the approximate center of the city. For NXX-to-NXX mileage, specify NPA and NXX. For city-to-city mileage, specify state/province and city. NPA uses the first city found when searching by name, so be precise and note the city located to ensure it's the one you want. Switches: NPA has several switches that affect how data is searched, what the output looks like, and where it goes. The carat (^) means press and hold the αCtrlα key then touch the letter next to it - then release both keys. Some switches automatically change the setting (yes/no) of other switches as necessary. i.e. When ^Pop is Yes, ^County is forced Yes since county name is required with population display. ^Scan City Name : Yes = Search entire city name for argument No = Search beginning of name for argument e.g. Yes : "hous" and "oust" both find Houston. No : "hous" finds Houston, "oust" does not. ^County (show) : Yes = Also show county name that city is in ^Pop (show) : Yes = Also show population of county ^NXX (show) : Yes = Show all NXXs (prefixes) in cities ^Zip (show) : Yes = Also show zip code of NXX ^Lat/Long (show): Yes = Also show latitude/longitude of NXX ^Display Screen : Controls how output is handled on screen. Scroll = Navigate output using scrollable buffer. Makes detailed perusal easier by allowing you to move forward and backward through NPAs findings. PagePause = Display in forward-only mode with pauses. Output starts sooner, but you cannot move around using nav keys. NonStop = Same as PagePuase, but with no pause. Output continues till search is complete. ^Output to : Allows you to specify where output goes. Screen = Display to CRT, using output mode indicated by the ^Display Screen switch. Printer = Output to printer, LPT1 only. No control codes are sent, so any printer should work. For LPT2 or LPT3, see next option, "File". File = Output to file. A file prompt will appear. Will overwrite existing file, even if created by NPA. You can also print by specifying LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. You can enter the line width when ^Output is set to printer or file. The default is 79 characters per line. For printer, the maximum is 255. For file, the maximum is 999. Function/Action Keys: F1 = Help. F2 = Display previous arguments in history buffer. F3 = Display next arguments in history buffer. F4 = Clear all field values on screen. F5 = Clear field value on screen where cursor is located. F6 = Save all switch settings (except ^Output) to defaults file. Settings are recalled next time NPA is executed. Esc = Cancel operation. (Esc) generally takes you back to where you were just prior to touching enter. The F2/F3 history buffer holds the last 20 commands entered during the current NPA execution. They are not remembered using F6. (Only switch settings are stored using F6) α* DOS Command Line Mode *α Usage for DOS Command Line: NPA (state|npa)[.city|.nxx|.zip] [2nd:state|npa.city|nxx] [min=x] [max=x] [-pp] [-ns] [-co] [-lat] [-pop] [-s] [-x] [-nxx] [-zip] [-25] [-50] [file=] [width=] Where: ( ) = Required Parameter. [ ] = Optional Parameter. | = Choose one from list of choices within ( ) or [ ]. ie: npa tx.hou -x state = Two letter postal code or portion of state name. NPA will first search for postal code. If postal code search fails, NPA will automatically perform a search by name. npa = Numbering Plan Area (AreaCode). NPA will search for states and provinces assigned this NPA. .city = Narrow state search to cities whose name starts with specification. ie: TX.hou will find Houston. .nxx = Show cities in state or NPA having this NXX. NXX means local exchange or prefix, ie: (NPA)NXX-nnnn. 2nd: = Calcuate distance between first state/province/npa, city/nxx and the one specified here. Touch "D" for more information on mileage calculation. min=x = Display only cities with at least x number of NXXs. If not specifed, then normal default minimum is 10. max=x = Display only cities with at most x number of NXXs. If not specifed, then the maximum is infinite. Some options have a trailing (-) that can be used to force the option. Used to override an option setting from the NPA_OPTIONS environment variable or from the defaults file. In essence, -foo- does the exact opposite of -foo. -pp = Display output using line mode. Do not use the scrollable buffer. NPA normally displays findings in a scrollable buffer allowing you to scroll up/down for easy perusal. The buffer is stored in virtual memory, so a large NPA output may take a moment to complete queuing. (-pp- force cancel) -ns = Continuous, don't pause. NPA normally pauses every screenful. Option is only meaningful if used with -pp. (-ns- force cancel) -co = Display county that city is located in. (-co- force cancel) -lat = Show latitude and longitude for each displayed NXX. This option can potentially generate copious output. Use only with narrow search specification. Forces option -x on. (-lat- force cancel) -pop = Display approximate county-wide population. Option -co forced on when this option is used. (-pop- force cancel) -s = Used with '.city'. Causes NPA to search anywhere within city name. ie: 'npa tx.oust -s' will locate Houston TX. Without the -s, you'd have to specify 'npa tx.hous' to locate Houston since the search is performed only from the first letter. The -s option is useful, for example, to locate all cities having the word 'lake' in it's name. (-s- force cancel) -x = Also display NXXs (prefixes). Output display can be rather lengthy when using this option. (-x- force cancel) -nxx = Same as -x. -nxx was added to be consistent with the other, more descriptive switch names. -x was included to assist current customers. -zip = Show primary zip code for each displayed NXX. There is not a one-to-one NXX-to-zip code mapping. This just shows the most pravalent zip for a given NXX. As with -lat, this option may generate copious output. (-zip- force cancel) -25 = Force 25 line mode if screen is not already. -50 = Force 50 line mode. Note: The -25/-50 option works only when specified on the NPA command line at the DOS prompt or when included in the NPA_SWITCH environment variable. If -25/-50 is the *only* argument on the NPA command line, then NPA enters Full Screen Query Mode with the lines-per-screen specified. file= = Print to file (or printer) instead of screen. NPA will overwrite an existing file without warning, so ensure that your file name is unique. You can also print by specifying LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. width= = Width of output to file or printer. For file, max is 999. For printer, max is 255.
