When the EDIT command is executed in the background and input mode is requested, blank lines should not be entered into the data set. EDIT interprets a blank line as a null line causing a switch from input mode to edit mode. When it is necessary to incorporate blank lines into your data set, certain methods can be followed. One method is to insert an unused character string wherever a blank line is required. Before ending the edit session, insert the CHANGE subcommand to change the character string to blanks. Figure 1 illustrates how this is done:

EDIT   examp4.cntl  NEW
INPUT
00010 LOGON user4 PROC(proca)
00020 PROFILE PREFIX(userID)
00030 EDIT p.data NEW
00040 line one
00050 @@@@@
00060 line two
00070 @@@@@
00080 line three
00090 @@@@@
00100 line four
00110
00120 c 10 999 /@@@@@/ / all
00130 list
00140 end save
00150 (null line)
end save
READY
SUBMIT examp4.cntl NOTIFY JOBCHAR(a)
JOB USER4A(JOB00001) SUBMITTED
READY

An alternate method is to specify the operand EMODE on the EDIT command that is to be executed in the background. With this method, each new line of data is preceded by a line number if the data set has line numbers.

To insert a line of data ending in a hyphen in situations where the system would remove the hyphen (that is, while in subcommand mode or in input mode for other than a CLIST data set), enter a hyphen in the next-to-last column, a blank in the last column, and immediately press the Enter key.