z/OSMF data set and file search

You can use this tool to search for data sets and UNIX files, browse or edit their content, and save copies and shortcuts. Also, you can use this tool to submit JCL jobs to run on your z/OS® system and view the output from the jobs.

This tool supports the ability to search data sets and Unix files on a remote system that has a z/OSMF instance running, by selecting a system with the target system selector icon System Selector. Once a system is selected, all the actions in the window target to that system.

To use the remote system function:
  1. The remote system needs to have a z/OSMF instance running, and the system entry needs to be defined in the Systems task of the primary z/OSMF.
  2. The server certificate of the remote server needs to be trusted by the primary server to establish an HTTPS connection.
  3. Optionally, enable single sign-on between the primary and remote z/OSMF servers to authenticate only once.
Note: Some plug-ins use a path selector window, which is similar to but not the same as the Data Set and File Search window. A path selector can only locate data objects and return the location to the parent window. For more information about path selector windows, see z/OSMF path selector.

To open the Data Set and File Search window, click the search icon in the desktop taskbar.

To open multiple search windows, right click on the search icon and select New Search Window. All the opened search windows are aggregated to the search icon, the context menu of the search item includes:
  • The current opened search windows. Click on each one to bring the search window to the front. A check mark icon is placed next to the name of the window, which is most recently used.
  • Function menu items:
    • New Search Window. To open a new search window. When there is a blank search window opened, it receives focus instead of opening a new one.
    • Close All Search Windows. To close all the search windows at once.
    • Show All Search Windows. To bring all the search windows to front from minimized state.

When multiple search windows are opened, click the search icon to bring the most recent one to the front.

Specify the object that you are looking for. You can specify a sequential data set, a member of a partitioned data set (PDS), or a z/OS UNIX path and file name. To search for a UNIX file, you must enter the path name, beginning with the forward slash (/). Otherwise, the tool attempts to find a matching data set name.

Note: Your user ID requires the appropriate access, such as READ access for objects that you browse, and WRITE access for objects that you edit.

Searching

The Data Set and File Search window provides the following controls to search for data objects that match a pattern:

Search input box
Enter a pattern that is a partial or complete name of a data set, member, or a UNIX file path. A history list and a type-ahead list assist your pattern entry task.

To search data set members in a data set directly, enter the data set name followed by a left parenthesis , for example, SYS1.PARMLIB( or SYS1.PARMLIB(IEA. Press the enter key or the Go button.

History list
When you click the empty search input box, a history list of previous patterns appears.

When you select a pattern from the history list, the pattern populates the search input box.

Target system selector

When you click the icon, it displays a list that contains the system nicknames that are defined in the Systems task and have a z/OSMF URL. When you click a system name, the search window has a target system, and all the actions that are performed in the window are toward that system.

By default, if no system is selected, the target system of the window is still the primary z/OSMF server.

The icon has two statuses, connected or unconnected, which are indicated by color. If the icon has a colored background, it indicates that the connection to the remote system can be established. If the icon only has an outline, it indicates that the connection to the remote system failed.

Type ahead list
When you type a pattern in the search input box, the history list becomes a type-ahead list. The type-ahead list displays data objects that match the pattern. Data objects whose names begin with the pattern are matched; the pattern does not have to completely match a data set qualifier, member, directory, or file name. The type-ahead list items are the result of a search for pattern*, where * is a wildcard for zero or more characters.

After you type one character, data set members and UNIX files are matched. After you type 2 characters, data sets are also matched.

When you select an object from the type-ahead list, the object populates the search input box.

The type-ahead list displays a maximum of 100 objects. If more than 100 objects match the pattern, a record at the end of the list indicates that some records are not displayed. To display all objects in the results area, click Display All.

The Display All button is at the end of the list. Click Display All and all objects that match the pattern, including any objects that are not displayed in the type-ahead list, are displayed in the results area.

Data sets
Data sets in the type-ahead list are fully qualified names.

Pattern matching is not case-sensitive for data sets and members.

The following example demonstrates type-ahead matching for data sets. The ZOSMF.ACS.ROUTINES data set is matched by the following patterns (and many other patterns):
  • zo
  • zosmf
  • zosmf.acs
  • zosmf.acs.rout
UNIX file paths
UNIX files in the type-ahead list contain the directory that matches the pattern and one level of child directories and files.

Pattern matching for UNIX file paths is case-sensitive.

The following examples demonstrate type-ahead matching for UNIX file paths.
  • The /dev/console/ and /dev/console/a patterns match the /dev/console/alpha path.
  • The /dev/ pattern does not match the /dev/console/alpha path because /dev/console/alpha is a second-level child of /dev/.
Go button
When you click Go or press Enter, z/OSMF searches for objects that match the pattern in the search input box. If matching objects exist, they are displayed in the results area.
Data sets
A pattern matches a data set if the pattern completely matches one or more of the data set's highest-level qualifiers.

Pattern matching is not case-sensitive for data sets and members.

The following examples demonstrate search results for data sets.
  • The zosmf pattern and the zosmf.acs pattern match the ZOSMF.ACS.ROUTINES data set .
  • The zos pattern does not match the ZOSMF.ACS.ROUTINES data set because zos does not completely match the data set highest-level qualifier.
  • The acs.routines pattern does not match the ZOSMF.ACS.ROUTINES data set because acs.routines does not match the data set highest-level qualifier.
  • The zosmf.a pattern does not match the ZOSMF.ACS.ROUTINES data set because a does not completely match the data set second-highest level qualifier.
UNIX file paths
A pattern matches a UNIX file path if the pattern completely matches one or more of the path's highest-level directories.

Pattern matching for UNIX file paths is case-sensitive.

The following examples demonstrate search results for UNIX file paths.
  • The /dev/console pattern matches the /dev/console/alpha path.
  • The /dev pattern matches the /dev/console path but not the /dev/console/alpha path because /dev/console/alpha is a second-level child of the /dev directory.
  • The /dev/console/a pattern does not match the /dev/console/alpha because /a does not completely match the /alpha directory.
Objects in the results area

When a search is complete, z/OSMF indicates the number of matching objects. The objects that match the search query are displayed in a table in the results area. The table shows the name and attributes for each object. Each table column can be sorted by hovering the mouse pointer over the column name and clicking the arrow icon.

Click objects in the results area to display the contents of those objects. Each successive click in the data area navigates to a lower-level data object.

Choose page view or scroll view

The search results can be presented in a page view, in which you click through one or more pages to see the results, or a scrollable window. By default, the results are presented in a page view. However, if you receive many matching results, you might prefer to view them in a scrollable window.

To toggle between the page view and the scroll view, click the page view icon (Advanced search icon).

In either view, you can narrow the search results further by specifying a filter.

Your selection of page view or scroll view is retained by z/OSMF for the next time you use the search function.

Filtering

You can filter your search results by using the advanced search icon (Advanced search icon). The available filters vary, depending on the type of object you are working with (data set or UNIX file).

The following search filter options are available for a data set:
Volume
You can input a specific volume to see only the data sets that are allocated on that volume.
Maximum Items
You can input the maximum number of items you would like returned from your search.

For example, specifying the filters volume=VOL123 and maximum itmes=10 causes the search to be limited to only the first 10 matches from volume VOL123.

The following search filter options are available for a UNIX file path:
Depth
You can input the number of levels to search.
Type
You can specify either f (for file) or d (for directory).
Maximum Items
You can input the maximum number of items you would like returned from your search.

For example, specifying the filters depth=1 and type=d causes the search to be limited to only one nested level of subdirectories.

Breadcrumbs path navigation

In the search results for a UNIX file path, the absolute path is displayed as a breadcrumb trail (a series of hyperlinks). You can navigate to a higher-level directory in the file path by clicking that portion of the file path. For example, in the file path /var/zosmf/configuration, you can click the /zosmf portion of the file path to navigate to the /zosmf directory. Similarly, if you click a UNIX file name, the file contents are displayed in browse mode.

Menu actions

You can right-click a data object to reveal the pop-up menu. The available actions vary, depending on the type of object you are working with (a data set or UNIX file path), and whether you selected one object or multiple objects.

If you select one data set or member, the actions are described as:
Open
Opens the data set or member that you hover the mouse pointer over or select.
Send to desktop or folder
You can choose to send the selected data set or member to the desktop or a folder on the desktop. A shortcut icon is created on the desktop or in the selected folder. You are then able to open the data set or member directly from the location that you sent it to.
Copy to data set or file

You can copy the content of the selected data set or member to another data set or member. If the target data set does not exist, a dialog box asks if you want to create one. If the target data set or member already exists, a dialog box asks you if you want to replace it.

You can also copy the content of the selected data set or member to a UNIX file or directory. If the target file already exists, a dialog box displays to ask if you want to replace it.

Copy name to clipboard
Copy the name of the data set or member that you hover the mouse pointer over or select.
Rename

Rename the selected data set or member.

Create Data Set Like
Copy the attributes of the selected data set to a new data set. You are prompted to provide a name for the new data set.
Submit As JCL
You can submit the job directly from the results window. This action is always available, even if the object is not valid JCL. Therefore, you must ensure that the object contains a valid JCL. If you submit an object with incorrect JCL, an error message is displayed.
Delete
Deletes the data set that you hover the mouse pointer over or select.
Download

Download the selected dataset or member with the default content type. The data transfer process converts each record from IBM-1047 to ISO8859-1.

Download with Content Type

Download the selected dataset or member with the specified content type. The data transfer process converts each record from source type (value of the from field) to the "charset" specified on the target type (value of the to field). If the source type is binary or record, no data conversion is performed.

Upload
Upload a local file as a sequential data set or member with default content type. The data transfer process converts each record from ISO8859-1 to IBM-1047.
Upload with Content Type

Upload a local file as a sequential data set or member with specified content type. The data transfer process converts each record from source type(value of the from field) to the "charset" specified on the target type(value of the to field). If source type is binary or record, no data conversion is performed.

If you select one UNIX file, the actions are described as:
Open
Opens the file that you hover over or select.
Send to desktop or folder
You can choose to send the selected file to the desktop or a folder on the desktop. A shortcut icon is created on the desktop or in the selected folder. You are then able to open the file directly from the location that you sent it to.
Copy to file or data set

You can copy the content of the selected file or directory to another file or directory. If the target file already exists, a dialog box asks if you want to replace it.

You can also copy the content of the selected file to a data set or member. If the target data set does not exist, a dialog box will ask if you want to create one. If the target data set or member already exists, a dialog box asks if you want to replace it.

Copy path to clipboard

Copy the path of a file or directory that you hover the mouse pointer over or select.

Rename

Rename the selected file or directory.

Change mode or owner

Change the mode or owner of the selected file or directory.

Delete
Deletes the files that you hover the mouse pointer over or select.
Refresh
Refresh the search results window to display updated results.
Submit As JCL
You can submit the job directly from the results window. This action is available only for a UNIX file (not for a UNIX directory). You are responsible for ensuring that the object contains a valid JCL. If you submit an object with incorrect JCL, an error message is displayed.
Download

Download the selected file with the default content type. The data transfer process converts each record from IBM-1047 to ISO8859-1.

Download With Content Type

Download the selected file with the specified content type. The data transfer process converts each record from source type (value of the from field) to the "charset" specified on the target type (value of the to field). If the source type is binary, no data conversion is performed.

Upload
Upload a local file as a file with the default content type. The data transfer process converts each record from ISO8859-1 to IBM-1047.
Upload With Content type
Upload a local file as a file with the specified content type. The data transfer process converts each record from source type (value of the from field) to the "charset" specified on the target type (value of the to field). If source type is binary, no data conversion is performed.
If you select multiple items, the available actions are described as:
Send to desktop or folder
You can send the selected items to the desktop or a selected folder on the desktop.
Deselect all
Deselect all the items that you selected.
Upload

Upload a local file as a sequential data set or member or Unix file with the default content type. The data transfer process converts each record from ISO8859-1 to IBM-1047.

Upload With Content type

Upload a local file as a sequential data set or member or Unix file with the specified content type. The data transfer process converts each record from source type (value of the from field) to the "charset" specified on the target type (value of the to field). If source type is binary, no data conversion is performed.