A typical IPCS function invocation is divided into two parts:
the operation, or command or subcommand name,
followed by the operand, which consists of parameters.
The operation can be a TSO/E command, IPCS subcommand, IPCS primary
command, or IPCS line command.
The parameters that are used with the TSO/E commands, IPCS subcommands,
and IPCS primary commands are of two types:
positional and
keyword.
- Positional parameters
Positional parameters
follow the command name in a certain order. In the command descriptions
within this
book, the positional parameters are shown in
lowercase characters. In the following example,
iosvirba is
a positional parameter on the FINDMOD subcommand:
FINDMOD iosvirba
- Keyword parameters
Keyword parameters
are specific names or symbols that have a particular meaning to IPCS.
You can include these parameters in any order following the positional
parameters. In the command descriptions, the keywords are shown in
uppercase characters and any variables associated with them are shown
in lowercase characters. However, the keywords may be entered in either
uppercase or lowercase:
TERMINAL | NOTERMINAL
FILE(ddname)
Long keywords such as TERMINAL and NOTERMINAL might make syntax
easier to read, but it might be a burden to type long keywords. IPCS
primary commands, IPCS subcommands and TSO/E commands that are supplied
with IPCS provide two ways to allow abbreviating long keywords:
- Some keywords that you tend to use often support explicit, short
aliases. For example, you can type C for CHARACTER.
- All keywords support unambiguous truncations. For example, you
can enter LEN for LENGTH, because this truncated form is currently
unambiguous on all the subcommands that support the LENGTH keyword.
If you are composing a command procedure that you hope will remain
useful for a long time, do not truncate keywords in it. As IPCS responds
to new demands, new keywords are introduced that might make the previous
acceptable truncations ambiguous. Use truncations only when you type
commands manually, or when you compose command procedures for short-term
use.
Many parameters are unique to an IPCS subcommand. However, two
different sets of parameters are used by many subcommands: