DEFINE—Define a Name

The DEFINE primary command is used to:

Identify a macro that replaces a built-in command of the same name
Identify programs that are edit macros
Assign an alias to a macro or built-in command
Make a macro or built-in command inoperable
Reset an inoperable macro or built-in command
Disable a macro or built-in command

DEFINE is often used with the BUILTIN command.

Syntax


                              .-CMD-.     
>>-+-DEFINE-+--name--+-MACRO--+-----+-+------------------------><
   '-DEF----'        |        '-PGM-' |   
                     +-ALIAS--name_2--+   
                     +-NOP------------+   
                     +-RESET----------+   
                     '-DISABLED-------'

name: The name for the command.
MACRO CMD: Identifies the name you are defining as a command language (CLIST or REXX exec) macro, which is called in the same way as using the SELECT service CMD keyword with a percent symbol (%) preceding the command. That means that you can specify only CLISTs or REXX EXECs.
MACRO PGM: Identifies the name that you are defining as a program (load module) macro.
ALIAS name_2: Identifies the name you are defining as an alias of another name, with the same characteristics. If name_2 is already an alias, the editor replaces it with the command for which it is an alias. Therefore, it is not possible to have an alias of an alias.
NOP: Makes the name that you are defining and all of its aliases inoperable until you reset them with RESET. Therefore, when the name or an alias of the name is called, nothing is processed. NOP is similar to DISABLED, except that disabled names cannot be reset by the RESET operand.
RESET: Resets the most recent definition of the name that you are defining to the status in effect before that definition. For example, RESET makes inoperable names operable again.
DISABLED: Disables the name you are defining and all of its aliases until you completely exit the editor and return to the ISPF Primary Option Menu. Therefore, when the name or an alias of the name is entered, nothing is processed. A disabled command or macro cannot be restored by the RESET operand. To disable RESET, use delimiters around 'RESET' to distinguish it from the keyword.

Description

The effects of a DEFINE command remain until you either issue DEFINE RESET or exit from the editor. You enter the editor when you select option 2, and you do not exit the editor until you return to the ISPF Primary Option Menu. Therefore, if you edit several members of a partitioned data set, one DEFINE at the beginning affects them all.

To temporarily override the DEFINE command, use the BUILTIN command.

Stacking DEFINE commands

Except for the DISABLED operand, the DEFINE operations are stacked. The RESET operand unstacks them. For example:

DEFINE A alias FIND
DEFINE A alias COPY
DEFINE A alias SAVE

stacks three definitions of A. Only the last one is effective. Here, A would be defined as SAVE.

This operation:

DEFINE A RESET

removes one command from the stack, making the previous command effective. In the preceding example, A would now be defined as COPY.

Examples

To define the name IJKDOIT as a CLIST or REXX macro, enter:

DEFINE IJKDOIT MACRO

To define the name SETITUP as a program macro, enter:

DEFINE SETITUP MACRO PGM

To define the name DOIT as an alias of the macro IJKDOIT, enter:

DEFINE DOIT ALIAS IJKDOIT

To define the name SAVE to have no effect, enter:

DEFINE SAVE NOP

To reset the definition of the name SAVE, enter:

DEFINE SAVE RESET

To define the name FINDIT as disabled, enter:

DEFINE FINDIT DISABLED