Entering commands in ISPF

ISPF provides flexibility by accepting various types of commands and having many methods for entering them. Table 1 provides an overview of the entry methods and commands available.

Table 1. Entry Methods and Command Types
Entry Methods	TSO Cmds, CLISTs, and REXX EXECs	DM Commands	PDF Primary Commands	PDF Line Commands	WS Commands
ISPF Command Shell (option 6)	X				X
Option field	X	X			X (1)
Command field	X	X	X		X (1)
Line Command fields (1-6 characters)				X
Line Command fields (9 characters)	X			X
Note: (1) Available when prefixed by "WS"

For example, to use the TSO ALLOCATE command, you could enter:

Command ===> TSO ALLOCATE

Also, CLIST names and REXX exec names can be preceded by a percent (%) symbol, as in:

Option ===> TSO %CLIST

This symbol informs TSO that the command is a CLIST or REXX exec, not a TSO command.

You can also use two command entry methods not shown in the table: the PA keys and the function keys. PA1 (ATTENTION) and PA2 (RESHOW) are hardware keys that you cannot redefine. You can use function keys to enter all commands.