Using IPCS parameters

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: