Function

pfsctl invokes the pfsctl service to issue physical file system (PFS) control commands to a PFS. The meaning of the command and argument are specific to and defined by the PFS.

Parameters

type

The type of file system, as defined by the FILESYSTYPE parameter on the BPXPRMxx parmlib member. Specify this as it is specified on the parmlib member.

command

The name of a PFS control command.

buffer

The name of a buffer containing the argument to be passed to the PFS. The argument is limited to 4095 bytes.

length

An optional numeric value, indicating the length of the argument. If length is not specified, the length of the buffer is used. The maximum length allowed is 4095 bytes.

Usage notes

1. This service is provided for communication between a program running in a user process and a physical file system.

   It is similar to ioctl, but the command is directed to the physical file system itself rather than to, or for, a particular file or device.

2. As an example of how you could use this function in writing a physical file system, consider the requirement to display status and performance statistics about the physical file system. You can collect this information in the physical file system, but you need a way to display it to the user. For more information about the use of pfsctl, see z/OS DFSMS Using Data Sets.

   With pfsctl, your status utility program can easily fetch the information it needs from the physical file system.