ISPF commands

A full list of these commands can be found in the IBM book:

Bookshelf: ISPF Online Product Library Book Shelf (find bookshelves)

Book: ISPF Edit and Edit Macros (find books)

Line commands

These commands can be entered on any line, while editing a dataset.

Command	Description	See
([n] or (([n]	Shifts columns left the specified number of positions (default 1).	)[n]
)[n] or ))[n]	Shifts columns right the specified number of positions (default 1).	([n]
<[n] or <<[n]	Shifts data (text after the first space) left the specified number of positions (default of 1).	>[n]
>[n] or >>[n]	Shifts data (text after the first space) right the specified number of positions (default of 1).	<[n]
A, B	Used by some block commands to identify the line that will appear After or Below the line(s) that are inserted.
BOUNDS	Provided as an alternative to the primary command, it provides an extra line where you can define, using "<" and ">" symbols, the boundaries of the data that will be effected by certain line and primary commands (listed below). This effects the line commands: < and >, ( and ), O, TE, TF, TS And effects the primary commands: CHANGE and RCHANGE, EXCLUDE, FIND and RFIND, LEFT and RIGHT, SORT
C[n] or CC	Copies one or more lines from one location to another.	M
COLS	Displays a position identifier line similar to the one in ROSCOE.
D[n] or DD	Deletes one or more lines.
F[n]	Redisplays one or more lines at the beginning of a block of excluded lines.	X
I[n]	Inserts one or more blank data entry lines.	R, TE
L[n]	Redisplays one or more lines at the end of a block of excluded lines.	X
LC[n] or LCC	Converts any uppercase alphabetic characters on one or more lines to lowercase.	UC
M[n] or MM	Moves one or more lines from one location to another.	C
MASK	Displays the contents of the mask which is used with the I, TE and TS line commands.	I, TE, TS
R[n] or RR[n]	Repeats one or lines, one or more times.	I
S[n]	Redisplays one or more lines at the beginning of a block of excluded lines.	X
TE[n]	Inserts blank lines to allow text entry.	I
TF[n]	Joins one or more lines.	TS
TS[n]	Divides one or more lines. A divide occurs at the location of the cursor.	TF
UC[n] or UCC	Converts any lowercase alphabetic characters on one or more lines to uppercase.	LC
X[n] or XX	Excludes one or more lines.	F, L, S

The other line commands that are not in the table, are: MD, O and TABS.

Primary commands

These commands can be entered on the command line while browsing or editing a dataset.

AUTOSAVE [ON] [OFF NOPROMPT] [OFF PROMPT]

ON Automatically save any changes on exit.
OFF Data has to be saved using the SAVE command.
The PROMPT sub command indicates whether to inform you if changes are saved.

BOUNDS [left-col right-col]

Sets the boundaries of the data that will be effected by certain line and primary commands (listed below).
You cannot specify the same column for both boundaries. An asterisk (*) can be used to represent the current value of the boundary.

This effects the line commands: < and >, ( and ), O, TE, TF, TS
And effects the primary commands: CHANGE and RCHANGE, EXCLUDE, FIND and RFIND, LEFT and RIGHT, SORT

BROWSE [member]

Allows you to browse another member in the same PDS.
Pressing PF3 will return you to the member you were editing.

CANCEL

Exits from editing without saving changes.

CAPS [ON] [OFF]

ON Automatically converts any lowercase letters to uppercase.
OFF Ignores the case of the letters typed.
If your CAPS mode is different from the member you are editing, it is changed automatically.

CHANGE string-1 string-2 [range] [NEXT | FIRST | LAST | PREV] [CHARS | SUFFIX | WORD] [col-1[col-2]] [ALL] [PREFIX] [NX]

Changes one or more occurrences of string-1 into string-2.

string-1 The search string you want to change.
string-1 The search string you want to replace string-1.
range Two labels that identify the lines which CHANGE is to search.
NEXT Finds the next occurrence of string-1 after the current cursor location.
ALL Starts at the top of the data and finds all occurrences of string.
FIRST Starts at the top of the data and finds the first occurrence of string-1.
LAST Starts at the bottom of the data and finds the last occurrence of string-1.
PREV Finds the previous occurrence of string-1 before the current cursor location.
CHARS Finds string-1 anywhere the characters match.
PREFIX Finds string-1 at the beginning of a word.
SUFFIX Finds string-1 at the end of a word.
WORD Finds where string-1 is delimited on both sides by blanks or other non-alphanumeric characters.
X Changes only the lines that are excluded from the display.
NX Changes only the lines that are not excluded from the display.
col-1 and col-2 Numbers that identify the columns where the CHANGE command is to search.

COMPARE {dsname | NEXT | SESSION | *} [{EXCLUDE} {SAVE} {SYSIN}]

Displays the "Edit Compare Settings" panel, this panel enables you to customize the comparison by selecting the relevant SuperC options to use.

dsname Name of a member or data set which the current file is compared to. This can be specified as a fully or partially qualified data set name, or just a member name.
NEXT Specifies that the comparison should be done against the next member.
SESSION | * Specifies that you want to compare the changes you have made since the beginning of the edit session or since the last SAVE command.
EXCLUDE Specifies that all matching lines in the compared data sets are excluded from the display except for a specified number of lines above and below the differences.
SAVE Specifies that SuperC (which performs the actual compare function) create a listing. The listing is saved in a data set named prefix.ISPFEDIT.COMPARE.LIST.
SYSIN Specifies not to free the DD name SYSIN before calling SuperC to compare files. This enables you to pass SuperC Process Statements to alter the comparison.

CUT [range] [clipboard] [REPLACE | APPEND] [DISPLAY]

range Two line pointers that specify the range of lines in the current member that are to be added to or replace data in the clipboard. A line pointer can be a label or relative line number.
clipboard The name of the clipboard to use (default clipboard is DEFAULT).
REPLACE | APPEND Specify REPLACE to replace existing data in the clipboard otherwise the lines are added to the end of the clipboard.
DISPLAY Show a list of existing clipboards, from this list you can edit the clipboards.

DELETE {ALL X | NX} {range X | NX} {ALL range}

ALL Specifies that all selected lines are deleted.
X | NX Restricts the lines deleted to those that are eXcluded or Not eXcluded, respectively.
range Two labels that limit the lines deleted to a range within and including those labels. The defaults are the editor-defined .ZFIRST and .ZLAST labels.

EDIT [member]

Allows you to edit another member in the same PDS. Pressing PF3 will return you to the member you were editing.

EDITSET or EDSET

Enables you to modify the editor settings.

END

Exits from editing.

EXCLUDE string [range] [NEXT | ALL | FIRST | LAST | PREV] [CHARS | PREFIX | SUFFIX | WORD] [col-1[col-2]]

Excludes one or more occurrences of a search string.

string The search string you want to exclude.
range Two labels that identify the lines which EXCLUDE is to search.
NEXT Excludes the next occurrence of string after the current cursor location.
ALL Starts at the top of the data and excludes all occurrences of string.
FIRST Starts at the top of the data and excludes the first occurrence of string.
LAST Starts at the bottom of the data and excludes the last occurrence of string.
PREV Excludes the previous occurrence of string before the current cursor location.
CHARS Excludes string anywhere the characters match.
PREFIX Excludes string at the beginning of a word.
SUFFIX Excludes string at the end of a word.
WORD Excludes where string is delimited on both sides by blanks or other non-alphanumeric characters.
col-1 and col-2 Numbers that identify the columns where the EXCLUDE command is to search.

FIND string [range] [NEXT | ALL | FIRST | LAST | PREV] [CHARS | PREFIX | SUFFIX | WORD] [X | NX] [col-1[col-2]]

Find one or more occurrences of a search string.

string The search string you want to find.
range Two labels that identify the lines which FIND is to search.
NEXT Finds the next occurrence of string after the current cursor location.
ALL Starts at the top of the data and finds all occurrences of string.
FIRST Starts at the top of the data and finds the first occurrence of string.
LAST Starts at the bottom of the data and finds the last occurrence of string.
PREV Finds the previous occurrence of string before the current cursor location.
CHARS Finds string anywhere the characters match.
PREFIX Finds string at the beginning of a word.
SUFFIX Finds string at the end of a word.
WORD Finds where string is delimited on both sides by blanks or other non-alphanumeric characters.
X Searches only the lines that are excluded from the display.
NX Searches only the lines that are not excluded from the display.
col-1 and col-2 Numbers that identify the columns where the FIND command is to search.

FLIP

Swaps the excluded data and the included data around.

HEX [ON VERT] [ON DATA] [OFF]

ON VERT Displays the hexadecimal representation of the data vertically (two rows per byte) under each character.
ON DATA Displays the hexadecimal representation of the data as a string of hexadecimal characters (two per byte) under the characters.
OFF Does not display hexadecimal representation of the data.

LEVEL

Changes the sub-version number of the member you are editing.

LOCATE {label | line-number}

Finds a specific label or line number

label A previously assigned label. An error message appears if the label is not currently assigned.
line-number A line number. If it exists, it appears at the top, if it does not exist, the line with the next lower number appears at the top.

PACK [ON] [OFF]

ON Saves data in packed format.
OFF Saves data in unpacked (standard) format.

PASTE [clipboard] [AFTER label] [BEFORE label] [KEEP | DELETE]

clipboard The name of the clipboard to use (default clipboard is DEFAULT).
BEFORE label The destination of the data that is being transferred from the clipboard. BEFORE copies the data before the specified label.
AFTER label The destination of the data that is being transferred from the clipboard. AFTER copies the data after the specified label.
KEEP | DELETE Specify KEEP to keep the data on the clipboard otherwise it is removed after pasting.

PRESERVE [ON] [OFF]

ON The editor preserves the record length of the record when the data is saved.
OFF Turns truncation on. ISPF removes trailing blanks when saving variable length files.

PROFILE [name] [number] or PROFILE {LOCK | UNLOCK} or PROFILE RESET

name The name (max of 8 characters) of the profile
number The number of lines (0-9) of the profile to display.

LOCK | UNLOCK Protects an edit profile from being changed until it is unlocked

RESET Uses the system wide default profile for new edit profiles.

RCHANGE

Finds the next string matching the one specified by 'CHANGE' command and changes it.

RFIND

Finds the next string matching the one specified by 'FIND' or 'CHANGE' command.

SAVE

Saves any changes to the dataset and allows further editing.

STATS [ON] [OFF]

ON Creates or updates library statistics when the data is saved.
OFF Does not create or update library statistics.

SUBMIT [range] [X] [NX]

range Two labels that define the first and last lines to be submitted.
X Submits only lines that are excluded from the display.
NX Submits only lines that are not excluded from the display.

VERSION number

Changes the version number of the member you are editing.

VIEW [member]

Allows you to edit another member in the same PDS. Pressing PF3 will return you to the member you were editing.

Other commands

Other primary commands that are not in the list, are: AUTOLIST, AUTONUM, BUILTIN, COPY, CREATE, DEFINE, HILITE, IMACRO, MODEL, MOVE,NONUMBER, NOTES, NULLS, NUMBER, RECOVERT, RENUM, REPLACE, RESET, RMACRO, SETUNDO, SORT, TABS, UNDO, UNNUMBER.