ISPF: Essential Commands to Boost Your Efficiency

ISPF (Interactive System Productivity Facility) is a powerful mainframe editor that streamlines working with data sets on z/OS systems. Mastering its core commands can significantly enhance your productivity. This guide explores some of the most valuable ISPF commands, along with SEO-friendly content and clear explanations.

Essential ISPF Commands:

• Autosave:

  • AUTOSAVE ON (default): Automatically saves member data upon pressing F3 (END).
  • AUTOSAVE OFF PROMPT: Prompts for confirmation (save/cancel) before saving with F3.
  • AUTOSAVE OFF NOPROMPT: Requires manual END before saving with F3.

• Hide Lines:

  • Use X in sequence numbers to hide lines (displayed as - - - Line(s) not Displayed).
  • Reset to original state with RES.
  • Completely hide lines with HIDE X after hiding individual lines.

• Flip Hidden Lines:

  • FLIP reverses the hidden line list (e.g., hides all visible lines).

• Caps Lock:

  • Controls whether member data is stored in uppercase or lowercase.

• Sort:

  • Reorders lines based on specified columns.
  • Example: SORT 12 20 D (sort data based on columns 12-20 in descending order)
  • Can sort on multiple columns and specify ascending/descending order.

• Search for:

  • Locates specific text patterns within PDS members or the whole 3.4 filter.
    • Example: SRCHFOR 'INFILE-COPYBOOK' (find members containing "INFILE-COPYBOOK").

• Change:

  • Replaces text within a member.
    • Example 1 (replace first occurrence of "ibm" with "bmi"): C/CHANGE 'ibm' 'bmi'
    • Example 2 (replace all occurrences of "ibm" with "bmi"): C ALL IBM BMI
    • Useful variations:
      • C FIRST VAR1 VAR-ONE: Replace first occurrence.
      • C LAST 'STOP RUN' 'GO BACK': Replace last occurrence.
  • Handles long strings exceeding lines.
  • Picture String Support:
    • C ALL P'=' ' ' 01 02: Change all characters into spaces in columns 01 and 02.
    • C ALL P'<' P'>' (lowercase to uppercase) or c all p'>' p'<' 01 35 (uppercase to lowercase).

• Find:

  • Locates specific strings within the member, highlighting them.
    • Examples:
      • F 'EXEC PGM='
      • F PREFIX 'SYS' (find lines starting with "SYS")
      • F SUFFIX 'OUT' (find lines ending with "OUT")
  • Picture String Support:
    • F P'###' (find 3 numeric characters)
    • F P' #': Numeric followed by space
    • F P'#AB': Numeric character, followed by "ab"
    • F P'#AB' 01 55: Find in specific columns (01-55 here)

• Find & Change (Combo):

  • Replaces all occurrences of a string.
    • Example: Change all "dd" to "ddd"
      1. F 'DD' (find all "dd")
      2. C * 'DDD' (replace all with "ddd")
  • Equivalent to C ALL DD DDD.

• Retp (History):

  • It shows the ISPF command history for easy reuse.
  • Type RETP in the command field.

• History Shortcut:

  • Press SHIFT+F12 repeatedly to cycle through previous commands.

• Create & Replace:

  • Create new members or replace existing ones using current member data.
  • Combine with line copy/move commands (c/m, cc/mm).
    • Example (create a new member "PGM2"):
      1. Select lines to copy (e.g., CC1-10).
      2. Use CREATE command.
      3. Specify the target PDS (e.g., CREATE PGMDATA.PGM2).
  • Use REPLACE instead of CREATE for existing members.
  • Combine with MM-MM to delete lines before creating/replacing.

• Compare:

  • Compares two members, highlighting differences in line commands.
    • Example: COMPARE IBMUSER.JCL(PGM1) COMPARE TEST12

• Clipboard:

  • View clipboard history with CUT DISPLAY.

• Highlight:

  • HI AUTO Automatically highlight any type of code (COBOL, JCL, REXX,...).

• DSLIST:

  • Like 3.4, You can give any filters to get the datasets
    • Example: DSLIST IBMUSER.JCL*
  • A simple way to get datasets without opening 3.4.

• Bounds:

  • Sets the left and right margins for editing specific sections of lines. '<' represents left & '>' represents right boundary for the dataset
  • Give BOUND in line numbers and give below cmd on ispf cmd line.
    • Example: BOUNDS 10 40 (Adds one line to show left boundary(col 10) & right boundary(col 40) in the member)

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Thank you & any contributions are tolarated