Line commands affect only a single line or block of lines. You enter line commands by typing them in the line command field on one or more lines and pressing Enter. The line command field is usually represented by a column of 6-digit numbers on the far left side of your display. When you are editing an empty data set or member, however, the line command field contains quotes. This field can also be used to define labels and to display flags that indicate special lines, such as the =NOTE= flag, which indicates a note line.

You can enter edit line commands as primary commands on the command line by prefixing them with a colon (:) and placing the cursor on the target line. For example, if you enter :D3 on the command line and move your cursor to line 12 of the file, the three lines 12, 13, and 14 are deleted from the file. This technique is normally used for PF key assignments.

See Managing data for ways you can use line commands to manipulate data and Edit line commands for the line command syntax.