Using the end-of-line character

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 z/VM guest

To include the end-of-line character in the command that is passed to Linux®, you must specify it with a leading escape character.

If you are using the standard settings with a double quotation mark character (") as the escape character and the number sign (#) as the end-of-line character, you must specify "# to pass # to Linux.

If you specify the end-of-line character without a leading escape character, z/VM CP interprets it as an end-of-line character that ends the VINPUT command.

Example

In this example a number sign is intended to mark the begin of a comment in the bash command. This character is misinterpreted as the beginning of a second command.

#cp vinput pvmsg echo ""%N%umber signs start bash comments"" #like this one
CP VINPUT PVMSG ECHO "%N%UMBER SIGNS START BASH COMMENTS"
LIKE THIS ONE
HCPCMD001E Unknown CP command: LIKE
...

The escape character prevents the number sign from being interpreted as an e character.

#cp vinput pvmsg echo ""%N%umber signs start bash comments"" "#like this one
VINPUT PVMSG ECHO "%N%UMBER SIGNS START BASH COMMENTS" #LIKE THIS ONE
echo "Number signs start bash comments" #like this one
Number signs start bash comments