BUFFERS
-------

Format:      BUFFERS [number]

Purpose:     Displays  or changes the number of disk buffers in  the
	system.

Use:	     If  the number is not given,  then the number  of  disk
	buffers currently in the system will be displayed, otherwise
	the  number  of  buffers will be changed  to  the  specified
	number, the now unused memory being freed for other purposes
	if the new number is less than the previous. If there is not
	enough  memory for the specified number of buffers,  then as
	many as possible are created and no error is given.

	     Increasing the number of disk buffers may speed up some
	applications,   particularly   those  that  perform   random
	accesses to files.  Setting the number above 10 is  unlikely
	to  improve  performance  much,  and unnecessarily  uses  up
	memory.

	     The  memory area used for disk buffers is also used for
	environment  items  and  for  opening  files.  Thus  keeping
	buffers  set  to  the  maximum  possible  may  prevent  some
	commands from working, particularly SET, COPY and CONCAT. If
	any of these commands give a 'not enough memory' error  then
	it  may help to reduce the number of buffers.  Reducing them
	below   about   three  however   will   impair   performance
	considerably.

	     The default number of buffers in the system is 5, which
	will be adequate for most purposes.

Examples:

	BUFFERS
	BUFFERS=5

	     The current number of disk buffers is printed, which in
	this case is 5.

	BUFFERS 10

	     The  number  of  buffers is increased  to  as  many  as
	possible up to a limit of 10.

	BUFFERS = 5

	     The number of buffers is reduced again to 5.
