TSO/E REXX commands

TSO/E provides TSO/E REXX commands to perform different services, such as I/O and data stack requests. The TSO/E REXX commands are not the same as TSO/E command processors, such as ALLOCATE and PRINTDS. In general, you can only use these commands in REXX execs (in any address space), not in CLISTs or from TSO/E READY mode. The exceptions are the EXECUTIL command and the immediate commands HE, HI, HT, RT, TE, and TS.

You can use the EXECUTIL command in the TSO/E address space only. In general, you can use EXECUTIL in an exec or a CLIST, from TSO/E READY mode, or from ISPF. See EXECUTIL for the description of the EXECUTIL command that describes the different operands and any exceptions about using them.

You can use the TS (Trace Start) and TE (Trace End) immediate commands in an exec that runs in any address space. In the TSO/E address space, you can use any of the immediate commands (HE, HI, HT, RT, TE, and TS) if you are executing a REXX exec and press the attention interrupt key. When you enter attention mode, you can enter one of the immediate commands.

The TSO/E REXX commands perform services, such as:

Controlling I/O processing of information to and from data sets (EXECIO)
Performing data stack services (MAKEBUF, DROPBUF, QBUF, QELEM, NEWSTACK, DELSTACK, QSTACK)
Changing characteristics that control the execution of an exec (EXECUTIL and the immediate commands)
Checking for the existence of a host command environment (SUBCOM).

Restriction: The names of the TSO/E REXX commands are reserved for use by TSO/E. You should not use these names for names of your REXX execs, CLISTs, or load modules.

Environment Customization Considerations: If you customize REXX processing using the initialization routine IRXINIT, you can initialize a language processor environment that is not integrated into TSO/E (see Types of environments - integrated and not integrated into TSO/E). Most of the TSO/E REXX commands can be used in any type of language processor environment. The EXECUTIL command can be used only if the environment is integrated into TSO/E. You can use the immediate commands from attention mode only if the environment is integrated into TSO/E. You can use the TS and TE immediate commands in a REXX exec that executes in any type of language processor environment (integrated or not integrated into TSO/E). TSO/E REXX customizing services describes customization and language processor environments in more detail.

In this chapter, examples are provided that show how to use the TSO/E REXX commands. The examples may include data set names. When an example includes a data set name that is enclosed in single quotation marks, the prefix is added to the data set name. In the examples, the user ID is the prefix.