Shell command descriptions
Following are the descriptions of all the commands for the z/OS shell. The descriptions are listed in alphabetic order. For instructions on how to read the command descriptions, see Reading the command descriptions.
The z/OS shell is based on the KornShell that originated on a UNIX system. As implemented for z/OS UNIX System Services, this shell conforms to POSIX standard 1003.2-1992.
Restriction: z/OS UNIX shell commands
can only read a large format sequential data set that has no more
than 65,535 tracks of data on any single volume.
This information assumes that your z/OS system includes Resource Access Control Facility (RACF®). Instead of RACF, your system could have an equivalent security product.
- alias — Display or create a command alias
- amblist — Display formatted information from object and executable files for diagnostic purposes
- ar — Create or maintain library archives
- as — Use the HLASM assembler to produce object files
- asa — Interpret ASA/FORTRAN carriage control
- at — Run a command at a specified time
- autoload — Indicate function name not defined
- automount — Configure the automount facility
- awk — Process programs written in the awk language
- basename — Return the nondirectory components of a path name
- batch — Run commands when the system is not busy
- bc — Use the arbitrary-precision arithmetic calculation language
- bg — Move a job to the background
- bpxmtext — Display reason code text
- bpxtrace — Activate or deactivate traces for processes
- break — Exit from a loop in a shell script
- c++ — Compile C and C++ source code, link-edit and create an executable file
- c89 — Compiler invocation using host environment variables
- c99 — Compile C source code, link-edit and create an executable file
- cal — Display a calendar for a month or year
- calendar — Display all current appointments
- cancel - Cancel print queue requests (stub command)
- captoinfo — Print the terminal entries in the terminfo database
- cat — Concatenate or display text files
- cc — Compile C source code, link-edit and create an executable file
- cd — Change the working directory
- ceebldtx — Transform message source files into assembler source files
- chaudit — Change audit flags for a file
- chcp — Set or query ASCII/EBCDIC code pages for the terminal
- chgrp — Change the group owner of a file or directory
- chlabel — Set the security label of files and directories
- chmod — Change the mode of a file or directory
- chmount — Change the mount attributes of a file system
- chown — Change the owner or group of a file or directory
- chroot — Change the root directory for the execution of a command
- chtag — Change file tag information
- cksum — Calculate and display checksums and byte counts
- clear — Clear the screen of all previous output
- cmp — Compare two files
- col — Remove reverse line feeds
- : (colon) — Do nothing, successfully
- comm — Show and select or reject lines common to two files
- command — Run a simple command
- compress — Lempel-Ziv file compression
- confighfs — Invoke the vfs_pfsctl function for HFS file systems
- configstk — Configure the AF_UEINT stack
- configstrm — Set and query the STREAMS physical file system configuration
- continue — Skip to the next iteration of a loop in a shell script
- copytree — Make a copy of a file hierarchy while preserving all file attributes
- cp — Copy a file
- cpio — Copy in/out file archives
- cron daemon — Run commands at specified dates and times
- crontab — Schedule regular background jobs
- csplit — Split text files
- ctags — Create tag files for ex, more, and vi
- cu — Call up another system (stub only)
- cut — Cut out selected fields from each line of a file
- cxx — Compile C and C++ source code, link-edit and create an executable file
- date — Display the date and time
- dbgld — Create a module map for debugging
- dbx — Use the debugger
- dd — Convert and copy a file
- df — Display the amount of free space in the file system
- diff — Compare two text files and show the differences
- dircmp — Compare directories
- dirname — Return the directory components of a path name
- . (dot) — Run a shell file in the current environment
- dspcat — Display all or part of a message catalog
- dspmsg — Display selected messages from message catalogs
- du — Summarize usage of file space
- echo — Write arguments to standard output
- ed — Use the ed line-oriented text editor
- edcmtext — Display errnojr reason code text
- egrep — Search a file for a specified pattern
- env — Display or set environment variables for a process
- eval — Construct a command by concatenating arguments
- ex — Use the ex text editor
- exec — Run a command and open, close, or copy the file descriptors
- exit — Return to the shell's parent process or to TSO/E
- expand — Expand tabs to spaces
- export — Set a variable for export
- expr — Evaluate arguments as an expression
- exrecover daemon — Retrieve vi and ex files
- extattr — Set, reset, and display extended attributes for files
- false — Return a nonzero exit code
- fc — Process a command history list
- fg — Bring a job into the foreground
- fgrep — Search a file for a specified pattern
- file — Determine file type
- find — Find a file meeting specified criteria
- filecache — Manage file caches
- fold — Break lines into shorter lines
- functions — Display or assign attributes to functions
- fuser — List process IDs of processes with open files
- gencat — Create or modify message catalogs
- getconf — Get configuration values
- getfacl — Display owner, group, and access control list (ACL) entries
- getopts — Parse utility options
- grep — Search a file for a specified pattern
- hash — Create a tracked alias
- head — Display the first part of a file
- history — Display a command history list
- iconv — Convert characters from one code set to another
- id — Return the user identity
- inetd daemon — Provide service management for networks
- infocmp — Compare or print the terminal description
- integer — Mark each variable with an integer value
- ipcrm — Remove message queues, semaphore sets, or shared memory IDs
- ipcs — Report status of the interprocess communication facility
- jobs — Return the status of jobs in the current session
- join — Join two sorted textual relational databases
- kill — End a process or job, or send it a signal
- left bracket — Test for a condition
- ld — Link object files
- let — Evaluate an arithmetic expression
- lex — Generate a program for lexical tasks
- line — Copy one line of standard input
- link — Create a hard link to a file
- ln — Create a link to a file
- locale — Get locale-specific information
- localedef — Define the locale environment
- logger — Log messages
- logname — Return a user's login name
- lp — Send a file to a printer
- lpstat — Show status of print queues (stub command)
- ls — List file and directory names and attributes
- mail — Read and send mail messages
- mailx — Send or receive electronic mail
- make — Maintain program-generated and interdependent files
- makedepend — Generate source dependency information
- man — Display sections of the online reference manual
- mesg — Allow or refuse messages
- mkcatdefs — Preprocess a message source file
- mkdir — Make a directory
- mkfifo — Make a FIFO special file
- mknod — Make a FIFO or character special file
- more — Display files on a page-by-page basis
- mount — Logically mount a file system
- mv — Rename or move a file or directory
- newgrp — Change to a new group
- nice — Run a command at a different priority
- nl — Number lines in a file
- nm — Display symbol table of object, library, or executable files
- nohup — Start a process that is immune to hang ups
- obrowse — Browse a z/OS UNIX file
- od — Dump a file in a specified format
- oedit — Edit files in a z/OS UNIX file system
- pack — Compress files by Huffman coding
- passwd — Change user passwords or password phrases
- paste — Merge corresponding or subsequent lines of a file
- patch — Change a file using diff output
- pathchk — Check a path name
- pax — Interchange portable archives
- pcat — Unpack and display Huffman packed files
- pg — Display files interactively
- pr — Format a file in paginated form and send it to standard output
- print — Return arguments from the shell
- printenv — Display the values of environment variables
- printf — Write formatted output
- ps — Return the status of a process
- pwd — Return the working directory name
- r — Process a command history list
- read — Read a line from standard input
- readonly — Mark a variable as read-only
- renice — Change priorities of a running process
- return — Return from a shell function or . (dot) script
- rlogind — Validate rlogin requests
- rm — Remove a directory entry
- rmdir — Remove a directory
- runcat — Pipe output from mkcatdefs to gencat
- script — Makes a typescript of a terminal session
- sed — Start the sed noninteractive stream editor
- set — Set or unset command options and positional parameters
- setfacl — Set, remove, and change access control lists (ACLs)
- sh — Invoke a shell
- shedit — Interactive command and history editing in the shell
- shift — Shift positional parameters
- sleep — Suspend execution of a process for an interval of time
- skulker — Remove old files from a directory
- sort — Start the sort-merge utility
- spell — Detect spelling errors in files
- split — Split a file into manageable pieces
- stop — Suspend a process or job
- strings — Display printable strings in binary files
- strip — Remove unnecessary information from an executable file
- stty — Set or display terminal options
- su — Change the user ID associated with a session
- submit — Submit a batch job for background processing
- sum — Calculate and display checksums and block counts
- suspend — Send a SIGSTOP to the current shell
- sysvar — Display static system symbols
- tabs — Set tab stops
- tail — Display the last part of a file
- talk — Talk to another user
- tar — Manipulate the tar archive files to copy or back up a file
- tcsh — Invoke a C shell
- tee — Duplicate the output stream
- test — Test for a condition
- tic — Put terminal entries in the terminfo database
- time — Display processor and elapsed times for a command
- times — Get process and child process times
- touch — Change the file access and modification times
- tput — Change characteristics of terminals
- tr — Translate characters
- trap — Intercept abnormal conditions and interrupts
- true — Return a value of 0
- tso — Run a TSO/E command from the shell
- tsocmd — Run a TSO/E command from the shell (including authorized commands)
- tsort — Sort files topologically
- tty — Return the user's terminal name
- type — Tell how the shell interprets a name
- typeset — Assign attributes and values to variables
- uconvdef — Create binary conversion tables
- ulimit — Set process limits
- umask — Set or return the file mode creation mask
- unalias — Remove alias definitions
- uname — Display the name of the current operating system
- uncompress — Undo Lempel-Ziv compression of a file
- unexpand — Compress spaces into tabs
- uniq — Report or filter out repeated lines in a file
- unlink — Removes a directory entry
- unmount — Remove a file system from the file hierarchy
- unpack — Decode Huffman packed files
- unset — Unset values and attributes of variables and functions
- uptime — Report how long the system has been running
- uucc — Compile UUCP configuration files
- uucico daemon — Process UUCP file transfer requests
- uucp — Copy files between remote UUCP systems
- uucpd daemon — Invoke uucico for TCP/IP connections from remote UUCP systems
- uudecode — Decode a transmitted binary file
- uuencode — Encode a file for safe transmission
- uulog — Display log information about UUCP events
- uuname — Display list of remote UUCP systems
- uupick — Manage files sent by uuto and uucp
- uustat — Display status of pending UUCP transfers
- uuto — Copy files to users on remote UUCP systems
- uux — Request command execution on remote UUCP systems
- uuxqt daemon — Carry out command requests from remote UUCP systems
- vi — Use the display-oriented interactive text editor
- wait — Wait for a child process to end
- wall — Broadcast a message to logged-in users
- wc — Count newlines, words, and bytes
- whence — Tell how the shell interprets a command name
- who — Display information about current users
- whoami — Display your effective user name
- write — Write to another user
- writedown — Set or display user's write-down mode
- xlc — Compiler invocation using a customizable configuration file
- xlC — Compile C and C++ source code, link-edit and create an executable file
- xlc++ — Compile C and C++ source code, link-edit and create an executable file
- xargs — Construct an argument list and run a command
- yacc — Use the yacc compiler
- zcat — Uncompress and display data
- zlsof — Displays information about open files, sockets, and pipes