CICS API command format

The general format of a CICS® command is EXECUTE CICS (or EXEC CICS) followed by the name of the required command, and possibly by one or more options.

The command format is as follows:

EXEC CICS command option(arg)....

where:

command: describes the operation required (for example, READ).
option: describes any of the many optional facilities available with each function. Some options are followed by an argument in parentheses. You can write options (including those that require arguments) in any order.
arg: (short for argument) is a value such as “data-value” or “name”. A “data-value” can be a constant, this means that an argument that sends data to CICS is generally a “data-value”. An argument that receives data from CICS must be a “data-area”.
Some arguments described as “data-area” can both send and receive data. In these cases, you must ensure that the “data-area” is not in protected storage.

An example of a CICS command is as follows:

EXEC CICS READ
          FILE('FILEA')
          INTO(FILEA)
          RIDFLD(KEYNUM)
          UPDATE

You must add the appropriate end-of-command delimiter; see CICS command syntax notation.

Note: If you want to add comments against CICS commands, you can do this, in assembler only, by using a period or a comma as a delimiter after the last argument. For example:

EXEC CICS ADDRESS EIB(MYUEIB),        @F1A

If a period or a comma is used with an EXEC CICS command, the following line must begin between column 2 and column 16, with the continuation character in column 72. The following line cannot start after column 17. If there is no comma or period added, the following line must begin at or after column 2 and end by column 71, with the continuation character in column 72.