Receiving Transmitted Messages with the RECEIVE Command

The RECEIVE command enables you to receive information that is transmitted to you from the system you are using or from another system. Using the RECEIVE command, you can receive transmitted messages, data sets, or both.

For information about receiving data sets, see Receiving Data Sets with the RECEIVE Command.

Procedures to initiate receiving vary with different installations. Two possibilities are:

A RECEIVE command is issued automatically when you log on. You then see on your screen the text of all messages sent to you plus system messages that prompt you to receive data sets sent to you.
A message flashes on your screen when a message or data set is transmitted to you. When you issue the RECEIVE command, you see the text of the message or system messages that prompt you to receive the data set.

If neither of the two above possibilities occur on your system, you might have to enter a RECEIVE command periodically to see if messages and data were sent to you.

What happens when you enter the RECEIVE command depends on whether something was transmitted to you. The possibilities are:

If nothing was transmitted, the system issues the following message and terminates the process:
```
You have no messages or data sets to receive.
READY
```

If a message was transmitted, the system displays it at your terminal. For example:

Dataset  **  MESSAGE  **  from  USER10 on NODEID
Date:  12 November 1987, 09:58:51 EST
From:  Jon Nolan                             USER10 at NODEID
To:    YOURID  at NODEID

Thanks for responding so promptly.  I'll get the data back
to you by Thursday of next week.
    Jon

Sender notified of receipt
-------------------------------------------------------------
No more files remain for the receive command to process.
READY

If several items were transmitted, the system processes them one after another without your having to enter additional RECEIVE commands.

Note: The RECEIVE command may work differently if your installation uses security labels and security checking. See Security Considerations for Sending and Receiving Data Sets for more information.