COMMAND PREFIX field
The value of the COMMAND PREFIX field specifies the DB2® subsystem command prefix. When the prefix appears at the beginning of a command that is entered at a z/OS® operator's console, z/OS passes the command to DB2 for processing. The command prefix is used in the DB2 entry of member IEFSSNxx of SYS1.PARMLIB.
| Acceptable values: | 1 to 8 characters; the first character must be a non-alphanumeric character. |
| Default: | -DSN1 (hyphen, concatenated with subsystem name) |
| Update: | see DSNTIPM: MVS PARMLIB updates panel |
| DSNZPxxx: | none |
The first character of the command prefix must be a character from the table below. The remaining characters of the command prefix must be from the table below, letters A through Z, or numbers 0 through 9.
| Name | Character | Hexadecimal representation |
|---|---|---|
| cent sign | ¢ | X'4A' |
| period | . | X'4B' |
| less-than sign | < | X'4C' |
| plus sign | + | X'4E' |
| vertical bar | | | X'4F' |
| ampersand1 | & | X'50' |
| exclamation point | ! | X'5A' |
| dollar sign | $ | X'5B' |
| asterisk | * | X'5C' |
| right parenthesis | ) | X'5D' |
| semi-colon | ; | X'5E' |
| hyphen | - | X'60' |
| slash | ⁄ | X'61' |
| percent sign | % | X'6C' |
| underscore | _ | X'6D' |
| question mark | ? | X'6F' |
| colon | : | X'7A' |
| number sign | # | X'7B' |
| at sign | @ | X'7C' |
| apostrophe2 | ' | X'7D' |
| equal sign | = | X'7E' |
| quotation marks | " | X'7F' |
- To use the ampersand (&), accept the default in this field, and then edit job DSNTIJMV to specify the ampersand as the command prefix.
- To use the apostrophe ('), you must code two consecutive apostrophes
in your IEFSSNxx member. For example, the entry for subsystem DB2A
with a command prefix of 'DB2A and a scope of started looks like this:
DB2A,DSN3INI,'DSN3EPX,''DB2A,'
Do not use the JES2 backspace character as a command prefix character. Do not assign a command prefix that is used by another subsystem or that can be interpreted as belonging to more than one subsystem or z/OS application. Specifically, do not specify a multiple-character command prefix that is a subset or a superset of another command prefix beginning from the first character. For example, you cannot assign "-" to one subsystem and "-DB2A" to another. Similarly, you cannot assign "?DB2" to one subsystem and "?DB2A" to another. However, you can assign "-DB2A" and "-DB2B" to different DB2 subsystems.
To use multiple-character command prefixes, have the system programmer update the IEFSSNxx subsystem definition statements in SYS1.PARMLIB.