PURPOSE: To suppress input by an operator to a required minimum by providing the automatic instruction issuing part of a terminal which instructs every kind of operation interlocking with the menu of a menu issuing part, and a sequential instruction execution part which instructs the operation based on the selection of the operator, etc.

CONSTITUTION: When the retrieval request of on-line data is issued, the retrieval of on-line data should be performed with the terminal 7 physically connected to a host computer 1 via a communication line 12. Then,the terminal is connected to an on-line system 2 only by selecting the retrieval of the on-line data with the operator by interlocking the terminal 7 with the menu issuing part 10 and the automatic instruction issuing part 11. Next, when a password is inputted, the terminal is connected to a retrieval sub system 3 with the sequential instruction execution part 5 of the system 2. Furthermore, the judgement of input of a data retrieval condition and that of the presence/absence of document output are performed. When a retrieval result after inputting the retrieval condition is displayed, a document with the same content as that of data 8 being displayed on the terminal 7 is outputted to a document file 9 simultaneously.