IBM 3270 Program Function Keys

The 12 (or 24 for some keyboards) Program Function (PF) keys initially have default settings for list mode (/LIST and /LISTP) as shown in Figure 1.

You can change them by setting the keys to a frequently needed data or command line. You can do this once for command mode, for edit mode, for execution and conversational-read mode and for list and spool mode.

If you do not have PF keys, you can still take advantage of the ability to set program functions by entering the /PFnn command instead of pressing the Function key.

You use the /SET PF command to set a given PF key to a given command or data line. Then when that PF key is pressed (or the /PFnn command is entered) the command or data line is processed just as if it had been typed in.

It is also possible to set a PF key to a portion of a command or data line. Then when data is entered followed by pressing the PF key, the data entered is combined with the PF key setting to form the actual command or data line that will be processed (for more details, see the [/]SET Command).

To set PF keys and still use the default PF key meanings described below, you can suspend your settings by issuing the /SET ... OFF command. To later reinstate your settings for the PF key settings, you need to specify only /SET ... ON.

The default settings of the PF keys in list and spool mode let you page forward and backward in your print output. They also allow you to shift pages left or right to view lines which exceed 80 characters.

You can page forward or backward and shift left or right also by using the /SKIP and /SHIFT commands, respectively. Use these commands for print data because, as was mentioned earlier, the PF-key default settings are suppressed whenever you receive the display of print data; you would have to reset them by issuing /SHIFT OFF. Also, the /SKIP and /SHIFT offer additional controls. Therefore, ignore the default PF key settings for print data and set your PF keys to /SKIP and /SHIFT command functions. Refer to /SHIFT Command and /SKIP Command for details.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      LIST MODE PRINT DISPLAY                       │
├───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┤
│   DISPLAY POSITIONS       │                PAGE                    │
├───────────┬───────────────┼─────────────┬─────────────┬────────────┤
│ WIDE SCRN │ NORMAL SCRN   │  PREVIOUS   │   CURRENT   │    NEXT    │
├───────────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼────────────┤
│  1 - 132  │  1 -  80 ===> │  PF1/PF13   │   PF2/PF14  │  PF3/PF15  │
│           │               │             │             │            │
│ 31 - 162  │ 31 - 110 ===> │  PF4/PF16   │   PF5/PF17  │  PF6/PF18  │
│           │               │             │             │            │
│ 31 - 162  │ 61 - 140 ===> │  PF7/PF19   │   PF8/PF20  │  PF9/PF21  │
│           │               │             │             │            │
│ 31 - 162  │ 91 - 162 ===> │  PF10/PF22  │   PF11/PF23 │  PF12/PF24 │
└───────────┴───────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴────────────┘
 

The PF1 key has another use when your terminal is not in execution mode: it can be used in place of the ENTER key. In this case the screen is not erased before the output is written back to the terminal, which can be useful if you want to keep certain information on the screen. After using the PF1 key in this way, press the ERASE INPUT key to clear the input line before typing in any data.