command name is an alphameric symbol of one to eight characters. In
general, the names are based on verbs that describe the function you
want the system to perform. For example, you may want to find out
information concerning your eMS filesa In this case, you would use the
LISTFILE command.
The command operands are keywords and/or positional operands of one to
eight, and in a few cases, one to seven alphameric characters each. The
operands specify the information on which the system operates when it
performs the command function. You must write the operands in the order in which they appear in the command formats in "section 2. CMS Commands," unless otherwise
specified. When you are using eMS, blanks may optionally be used to
separate the last operand from the option list. CMS recognizes a left
parenthesis" (" as the beginning of an option list; it does not have to
be preceded by a blank.
The command options are keywords used to control the execution of the
command. The command formats in "Section 2. Commands" show all the
options for each command.
The option list must be preceded by a left parenthesis; the closing
parenthesis is not necessary.
For most commands, if conflicting or duplicate options are entered,
the last option entered is the option in effect for the command.
Exceptions to this rule are noted where applicable.
If ,ou want to write comments with commands, you enter them
following the closing parenthesis of the option list. The only
exception to this rule is the ERASE command, for which comments are not
allowed. You can also enter comments on your console by using the CP *
command.
Character Set Usage eMS commands may be entered using a combination of characters from six
different character sets. The contents of each of the character sets is shown in Figure 1.
Section 1. Introduction and General concepts 3

r , , Character Set Names Symbols I I Separator Blank , I National Dollar Sign $ , Pound Sign # , At Sign ii) I I Alphabetic uppercase A Z , Lowercase a -z , , Numeric Numeric 0 9 I I Alphameric National $, #, ii) , Alphabetic A Z , a z , Numeric 0 9 , , Special All other , characters
L J
Figure 1 • Character Sets and Their Contents Notational Conventions notation used to define the command syntax in this publication is: • Truncations and Abbreviations of Commands truncation of a command name is permitted, the shortest
acceptable version of the command is represented by uppercase (Remember, however, that eMS commands can be entered with
any combination of uppercase and lowercase letters.) The following
example shows the format specification for the FILEDEF command.
FIledef
This format means that FI, FIL, FILE, FILED, FILEDE, and FILEDEF are
all valid specifications for this command name.
Operands and options are specified in the same manner. Where truncation is permitted, the shortest acceptable version of the
operand or option is represented by uppercase letters in the command
format box. If no minimum truncation is noted, the entire word
(represented by all uppercase letters) must be entered.
Abbreviations are shorter forms of command operands and options.
Abbreviations for operands and options are shown in the description
of the individual operands and options that follow the format box.
For the abbreviation for MEMBER in the PRINT command is MEM. Only these two forms are valid and no truncations are allowed. The
format box contains
and the description that follows the format box is MEMBER {name} MEt'! *
4 IBM VM/370 eMS Command and Macro Reference