How long do access paths stick around after defining a query, SQL, etc.?
In the case of OPNQRYF, the access path will stay around until you close the file. I don't know how long OS/400 keeps temporary access paths, but if I had an access path I wanted to use more than once, I would create the access path to ensure that it would be there when I needed it.
This was first published in April 2001