Chapter 8. Entering Commands from an Exec
Types of Commands .......................97
Issuing TSO/E Commands from an Exec ...............98
Using Quotations Marks in Commands ...............98
Passing Data Set Names as Arguments..............98
Using Variables in Commands ..................99
Causing Interactive Commands to Prompt the User ..........100
Invoking Another Exec as a Command...............100
Invoking Another Exec with the EXEC Command ..........101
Invoking Another Exec Implicitly ................101
Issuing Other Types of Commands from an Exec ............101
What is a Host Command Environment? ..............101
APPC/MVS Host Command Environments ............104
Examples Using APPC/MVS Services ..............106
Changing the Host Command Environment .............106
Determining the Active Host Command Environment ........107
Checking if a Host Command Environment is Available .......107
Examples Using the ADDRESS Instruction ............107
This chapter describes how to issue TSO/E commands and other types of
commands from a REXX exec.
Types of Commands
A REXX exec can issue many types of commands. The two main categories of
commands are:
v TSO/E REXX commands - Commands provided with the TSO/E implementation
of the language. These commands do REXX-related tasks in an exec, such as:
– Control I/O processing of information to and from data sets (EXECIO)
– Perform data stack services (MAKEBUF, DROPBUF, QBUF, QELEM,
NEWSTACK, DELSTACK, QSTACK)
– Change characteristics that control the execution of an exec (EXECUTIL and
the immediate commands)
– Check for the existence of a host command environment (SUBCOM).
More information about these TSO/E REXX commands appears throughout the
book where the related task is discussed
v Host commands - The commands recognized by the host environment in which
an exec runs. A REXX exec can issue various types of host commands as
discussed in the remainder of this chapter.
When an exec issues a command, the REXX special variable RC is set to the
return code. An exec can use the return code to determine a course of action within
the exec. Every time a command is issued, RC is set. Thus RC contains the return
code from the most recently issued command.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1988, 2001 97
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