Section 1. The VM/370 Command Languages Each af the VM/370 components has its own command language. The CP =ommand language is described in this publication and in the in virtual Machine. The command language is
described in the and The RSCS command language is described in the The IPCS =ommand language is described in §y§tgm r-his section describes the structuce of the CP, eMS, and
abbreviations and VM/370 command environments, RSCS command languages, and
the general
the command There ace two types of VM/370 commands: system commands and user-defined =ommands. The system commands are those defined by the CP, CMS, IPCS, and BSCS command languages. User-defined commands are
those you can create yourself usinq the EXEC command oc the LOAD and GENMOD conmands. The procedure for creating user-defined commands
is desccibed in the VM/370 CMS User's Guide. User-defined CP commands
are al30 allowed; yonr--Installation's system programmer must
create them. The procedure for creating user-defined CP commands is
described in the !tlL1IQ 2Yigg. VM/370 Command Environments
There are two basic command environments: the control program (CP) command environment and the virtual machine command environment. You are in the control program (CP) command environment when you log
on to VM/370 and issue CP commands. You are in the virtual machine command environment when you load your
virtual ffiichine CMS or another operatinq system.
If YOl are operating under CMS, you can determine which command
environment you are in by enterinq a null line (that is, pressing the
enter key, oc equivalent, with no data). VM/370 responds to a null line
by displavinq the current command environment, CMS or CP. VM/370 CP Command Structure A VM/370 =ommand consists of a command name, usually followed by one or
more positional operands. The general form for the CP command line is: r 1 command. name
L
[operand ••• 1
J You must use one or more blanks to separate each entry in the command
line unless otherwise indicated.
section 1. The VM/370 Command Languages 3

THE COMMAND NAME The name is an alphameric symbol of not more than eight =hara=ter3. In qeneral, the names are verbs that describe the function voa want the system to perform. For example, you may want to find out
whether not a certain user is logqed on the VM/310 system. In this
case, you use the CP QUERY command.
THE COMMAND OPERANDS command are keywords and positional operands of no more
than alphameric characters each. The specify the on which the system operates when it performs the command For the QUERY command, for example, you could use the USER or aserid operand to find out whether the user is on the system. Some require no operands; others require several. You can find G and class Any command with all of its operand
requirements in "Section 5: Format of CP Commands" of this publication. You must write the operands in the order in which they appear in the
command f)rmats in section 5, unless otherwise specified. COMMENTS IN THE CP COMMAND LANGUAGE You can write comments with CP commands of the following types: • Commanis with no operands • Commanis with a fixed number of operands • Commanis with a single optional operand You sh)ulj not write comments with commands that have a variable
number of operands or with commands that have more than one optional
)perand. If you do, the comment could be interpreted as an operand. Yoa enter comments on your console by using the CP * command. CHARACTER SET USAGE VM/310 commands are entered usine a combination of characters from six
different character sets. The contents of each of the character sets is
described in Figure 2. 4 CP Command Feference for General Users