Every operating system provides at least one interface whereby humans may communicate with it. The i5/OS provides two interfaces. The original interface is text-based, consisting of a set of commands and menus that categorize those commands. The newer interface, iSeries Navigator, is a graphical system that runs on attached personal computers. This chapter deals with the command interface. iSeries Navigator is discussed in Chapter 10.
Many computers have operating systems with control commands that make little sense. You might guess that the cp command copies files on a UNIX system, but would you know that the command to rename a file is mv, or that the cat command can display the contents of a file on a dumb terminal? The i5/OS, on the other hand, uses a standard set of abbreviations that are always followed. The vast majority of commands adhere to the following naming scheme:
First, a three-letter abbreviation for a verb, such as create, remove, print, or send. See Table 9.1.
Verbs | Modifiers | ||
---|---|---|---|
CRT | Create | F | File |
CHG | Change | PF | Physical File |
DLT | Delete | LF | Logical File |
ADD | Add | SRCF | Source File |
RMV | Remove | CLPGM | CL Program |
DSP | Display | RPGPGM | RPG Program |
WRK | Work with | MSGQ | Message Queue |
STR | Start | OUTQ | Output Queue |
END | End | OBQ | Job Queue |
DTAQ | Data Queue | ||
DTAARA | Data Area | ||
SBS | Subsystem |
Last, a series of abbreviations for modifiers, such as file, program, job queue, or user profile. These abbreviations are usually three letters long, but there are many exceptions. This naming scheme makes command names easy to guess. If you know the abbreviations used by IBM, all you need do is put them together, and you are likely to be right.
The i5/OS includes a very few commands that do not follow this convention. These are commands that are widely used in the Internet world, such as PING, FTP, CD, and MD. All these commands have counterparts that do follow the i5/OS convention. See Table 9.2 for some examples.
Command | Alternate name | Description |
---|---|---|
APING | VFYAPPCCNN | Verify APPC Connection |
AREXEC | RUNRMTCMD | Run Remote Command |
CD | CHGCURDIR | Change Current Directory |
CHDIR | CHGCURDIR | Change Current Directory |
COPY | CPY | Copy Object |
DEL | RMVLNK | Remove Link |
ERASE | RMVLNK | Remove Link |
FTP | STRTCPFTP | Start TCP/IP File Transfer Protocol |
JAVA | RUNJVA | Run Java Program |
LPR | SNDTCPSPLF | Send TCP/IP Spooled File |
MD | CRTDIR | Create Directory |
MKDIR | CRTDIR | Create Directory |
MOV | MOVOBJ | Move Object |
MOVE | MOVOBJ | Move Object |
PING | VFYTCPCNN | Verify TCP/IP Connection |
QSH | STRQSH | Start Qshell |
RD | RMVDIR | Remove Directory |
RMDIR | RMVDIR | Remove Directory |
REN | RNM | Rename Object |
STATFS | DSPMFSINF | Display Mounted File System Information |
TELNET | STRTCPTELN | Start TCP/IP TELNET |
Commands are not case-sensitive, except for quoted parameter values. The following are all acceptable versions of the Display User Profile command:
DSPUSRPRF dspusrprf DspUsrPrf Dspusrprf dSPusrpRf
Suppose you need to create a new message queue. What command would you use? If you look at the list of verbs, you will see that the verb "create" is abbreviated CRT. In the list of modifiers, message queue is abbreviated MSGQ. Put them together and you obtain CRTMSGQ, which is correct. Figure 9.1 illustrates this concept.
Figure 9.1: Parts of a command name.
Now, suppose you want to display a data area. Display is DSP and data area is DTAARA. The command, then, is DSPDTAARA. Correct again.
Finally, suppose you want to create an RPG program and then you want to delete a CL program. Create is CRT and RPG program is RPGPGM, so the command should be CRTRPGPGM, which is correct. To delete a CL program, however, you do not run the DLTCLPGM. That command does not exist. You run the DLTPGM command. The system doesn't care what language you used to create the program when you are going to delete it. Although you use CRTPF to create a physical file, you use DLTF (delete file) to delete it. It makes no difference to the system what kind of file it is.