Command modes

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You can use the command-line interface (CLI) to run a single command or a series of commands, either interactively or from a script.

Single-shot mode

If you want to run only a single command, specify the csmcli program and the command that you want to run from the shell prompt, for example:

shell> csmcli lslocation
Location  Details
=================
1         Boulder
3         Marana
2         Tucson
shell>

Interactive mode

If you want to run several commands, start a CLI session by using the csmcli program with no parameters or arguments. Then, enter each command at the csmcli> shell prompt. For example:

shell> csmcli
csmcli> rmsess exmp_session
Are you sure that you want to remove session exmp_session? [y/n]:y
Session exmp_session removed
csmcli> exit
shell>

Script mode

If you want to run a set of commands that you defined in a file, use the csmcli program with the -script parameter. For example:

shell> csmcli -script ~/bin/containersetup
shell>

You can add comments to the script file by placing a number sign (#) in the first column. For example:

# This script file lists the default storage pool.
lspool -l -type default

The CLI program recognizes these built-in commands in interactive mode:

setoutput

Specifies various command-output format options. All settings that are specified with setoutput remain in effect during the interactive command session unless reset either with a command option or with setoutput. With no options, setoutput displays the current settings in the default output format. Settings from the setoutput command do not apply to help pages; help pages are shown in text output only.

Syntax

Parameters and arguments:

-fmt { default | xml | delim | stanza }

Specifies the format of the output. You can specify one of these values:

default

Specifies that the output is displayed in tabular format using spaces as delimiters between columns. This is the default value.

xml

Specifies that the output is displayed in XML format.

delim

Specifies that output is displayed in a tabular format using commas as delimiters between columns.

To use a character other than a comma as the delimiter, specify -fmt delim -delim char , where char represents the character that you want to use as the delimiter. For example, if you want to use a colon (:) as the delimiter, use the following -fmt parameter:

-fmt delim -delim :

If you use a shell metacharacter as the delimiting character, enclose the character in quotation marks or single quotation marks. A blank space is not a valid character.

stanza

Specifies that the output is displayed as one keyword-value pair per line.

-p { on | off }

Specifies whether to display one page of text at a time or all text at once.

on: Displays one page of text at a time. Pressing any key displays the next page. This is the default value when the command is run in interactive mode.
off: Displays all text at once. This is the default value when the command is run in single-shot mode.

-hdr { on | off }

Specifies whether to display the table header. You can specify one of these values:

on: Displays the table header. This is the default value.
off: Hides the table header.

-r number

Specifies the number of rows per page to display when the -p parameter is specified. You can specify a value of 1 - 100. The default value is 22.

-v { on | off }

Specifies whether to enable verbose mode. You can specify one of these values:

on: Enables verbose mode.
off: Disables verbose mode. This is the default value.

help

Displays a list of commands available from the CLI session.

exit

Exits from the CLI session.

quit

Exits from the CLI session.