EXEC

Notes:

¹ Keyword EXEC may be omitted as long as SET IMPEX is set on.

Authorization

General User

Purpose

Use the EXEC command to execute one or more CMS commands or exec control statements contained in a specified REXX, CMS EXEC, or EXEC 2 file.

Operands

EXec: this keyword may be omitted if you are executing the exec procedure from the CMS command environment and have not issued the command SET IMPEX OFF. (SET IMPEX ON, the default, means CMS treats exec files as commands, making it unnecessary for you to use the EXEC command to execute them.)
fn: is the file name of a file containing one or more CMS commands or EXEC control statements to be executed. The file type of the file must be EXEC. The file can have either fixed- or variable-length records with a logical record length not exceeding 130 characters. A text editor or a user program can create exec files. Exec files a CMS editor creates have, by default, variable-length, 80-character records.
args: are any arguments you choose to pass to the exec. The CMS EXEC processor assigns arguments to special variables &1 through &30 in the order in which they appear in the argument list. The EXEC 2 processor assigns arguments to special variables starting with special variable &1. With the REXX and the EXEC 2 processors, the number of arguments is not limited. However, the number of bytes of data you can pass in the argument list is limited. The limit is the maximum number of bytes that can fit in a line: 130 bytes if the command is entered from a terminal, 255 bytes if the command is issued from a program. Arguments passed to REXX are handled differently from the way they are in EXEC or EXEC 2. For more information, see z/VM: REXX/VM Reference.

For information on REXX, see z/VM: REXX/VM Reference and z/VM: REXX/VM User's Guide.

For information about EXEC 2 control statements, use the HELP facility to get complete descriptions of EXEC and EXEC 2 control statements, special variables, and built-in functions by entering:

help exec menu

help exec2 menu

Examples

If the implied EXEC function is set to OFF (QUERY IMPEX to find out the setting), and if you want to execute your SQUARE EXEC (which squares a number), enter:

exec square 4

If IMPEX is on, you can simply enter:

square 4

For more examples on using the EXEC command, see z/VM: CMS User's Guide.

Responses

The amount of information displayed during the execution of a CMS EXEC depends on the setting of the &CONTROL control statement. By default, &CONTROL displays all CMS commands, responses, and error messages. In addition, it displays nonzero return codes from CMS in the format:

+++ R(nnnnn)  +++

Where:

nnnnn: specifies the return code from the CMS command.

The amount of information displayed during the execution of:

A REXX file depends on whether tracing is set on. For more information, see z/VM: REXX/VM Reference.
An EXEC 2 file depends on the setting of the &TRACE control statement. For more information about &TRACE is available through the z/VM Help Facility by entering:
```
help exec2 &trace
```

Return codes for error messages from CP commands directly correspond to the message number. For example, if you issued a CP LINK command with an incorrect user ID, you receive error message HCPLNK053E userid not in CP directory. When issued from a CMS EXEC program, the same CP LINK command would have a return code of 53.

Messages and Return Codes

DMS175E Invalid EXEC command RC=10000
DMS255T Insufficient storage for Exec interpreter RC=10096
DMS240E Alternate exec processor name not found RC= -3
DMS240E Unable to load the CMS exec processor "DMSEXT" RC= -3
DMS639E Error in routine-name routine; return code was nn
DMS1229E fileid is empty [RC=88]
DMS042E No execid specified [RC=24]

If the CMS EXEC interpreter finds an error, it displays the message:

DMS072E  Error in EXEC file fn, line nnn:
message

The possible errors, and the associated return codes, are:

Description	Return Code
FILE NOT FOUND	801
&SKIP OR &GOTO ERROR	802
BAD FILE FORMAT	803
TOO MANY ARGUMENTS	804
MAX DEPTH OF LOOP NESTING EXCEEDED	805
ERROR READING FILE	806
INVALID SYNTAX	807
INVALID FORM OF CONDITION	808
INVALID ASSIGNMENT	809
MISUSE OF SPECIAL VARIABLE	810
ERROR IN &ERROR ACTION	811
CONVERSION ERROR	812
TOO MANY TOKENS IN STATEMENT	813
MISUSE OF BUILT-IN FUNCTION	814
EOF FOUND IN LOOP	815
INVALID CONTROL WORD	816
EXEC ARITHMETIC UNDERFLOW	817
EXEC ARITHMETIC OVERFLOW	818
SPECIAL CHARACTER IN VARIABLE SYMBOL	819

If the EXEC 2 interpreter finds an error, it displays the message:

DMS085E  Error in fn ft fm, line nnn - message

The possible errors and the associated return codes related to this message are:

Description	Return Code
FILE NOT FOUND	10001
WRONG FILE FORMAT	10002
WORD TOO LONG	10003
STATEMENT TOO LONG	10004
INVALID CONTROL WORD	10005
LABEL NOT FOUND	10006
INVALID VARIABLE NAME	10007
INVALID FORM OF CONDITION	10008
INVALID ASSIGNMENT	10009
MISSING ARGUMENT	10010
INVALID ARGUMENT	10011
CONVERSION ERROR	10012
NUMERIC OVERFLOW	10013
INVALID FUNCTION NAME	10014
END OF FILE FOUND IN LOOP	10015
DIVISION BY ZERO	10016
INVALID LOOP CONDITION	10017
ERROR RETURN DURING &ERROR ACTION	10019
ASSIGNMENT TO UNSET ARGUMENT	10020
STATEMENT OUT OF CONTEXT	10021
INSUFFICIENT STORAGE AVAILABLE	10097
FILE READ ERROR nnn	10098
TRACE ERROR nnn	10099

For more information on the possible errors and associated return codes for REXX, see z/VM: REXX/VM Reference.

Additional system messages may be issued by this command. The reasons for these messages and their location are:

Reason	Location
Errors in the Shared File System	File Pool Server Messages