DCL users can use the DEFINE or ASSIGN command to redirect SYS$INPUT, SYS$OUTPUT, or SYS$ERROR. Such redirection can be created as either the user-mode (using the /USER_MODE qualifier) or supervisor-mode (using the /SUPERVISOR_MODE qualifier) redirection. A user-mode redirection only affects the environment of the next user-mode image. In a PIPE command, redirection can be achieved by using the redirection syntax. A PIPE command redirection is quite different from that created by the DEFINE or ASSIGN command, as follows: o Redirections are created in supervisor mode. This means that both user-mode applications and DCL commands are affected by the redirections. o The redirected environment only applies to the command sequence or the pipeline-segment command that specifies the redirection syntax. After the execution of the command sequence or pipeline-segment command, the original process input/output environment (that is, SYS$INPUT, SYS$OUTPUT, and SYS$ERROR) is restored before command execution continues. When SYS$OUTPUT is redirected, the redirected output file is always created, whether or not the command sequence actually writes to SYS$OUTPUT. If a version of a file with the same name as the redirected output file already exists, a new version of that file is created. (This behavior is the same as using the DEFINE or ASSIGN command to redefine SYS$OUTPUT in supervisor mode.) Note that the redirected file is created before the command sequence is executed. If the redirected file is also used in the command sequence, the operation may fail, as in the following example: $ PIPE SEARCH TRANS.LOG "alpha" > TRANS.LOG %SEARCH-W-OPENIN, error opening TRANS.LOG;2 as input -RMS-E-FLK, file currently locked by another user In this example, a new version of TRANS.LOG is created and opened for write access; the SEARCH command then tries to get read access to the most recent version of TRANS.LOG instead of the expected previous version. When SYS$ERROR is redirected, the redirected error file is only created when the command sequence actually writes to the SYS$ERROR during execution, and there is no existing file with the same name as the redirected error file. If a file with the same name as the redirected error file already exists, that file is opened as the redirected error file. The error output generated by this command sequence is then appended to the end of the redirected error file. (This behavior is the same as using the DEFINE or ASSIGN command to redefine SYS$ERROR in supervisor mode.)