ISPF: Introduction to the ISPF Editor

Invoke ISPF and select option 2 on the ISPF Primary Option Menu. The first thing you see is the Edit Entry Panel (figure 2, above), where you enter the name of the data set you want to edit. This panel has many fields. Until you become more familiar with editing in ISPF, you can ignore most of the fields on this screen. Some (such as Data Set Password) are not supported at CNS.

Tab your cursor to the line that says Data Set Name (about half-way down the screen) and enter the complete name of the data set you want to edit, in single quotes.

Other Partitioned or Sequential Data Set:
   DATA SET NAME ===> 'data.set.name.here'

If the data set is a sequential data set, ISPF will open it for you to edit.

If the data set is a Partitioned Data Set (PDS), ISPF will display a list of members. To select a particular member to edit, move your cursor down the list (or use <F8> to page forward for other members) and type an S in the margin to the left of the member name. Press <Enter>. ISPF will open this member for you to edit. The following example selects a member named CMEMBER.

COMMAND ===>
    AMEMBER
    BMEMBER
 s  CMEMBER
    DMEMBER

If you want to edit a specific member and you know its name, you can bypass the member list by including the member name on the Edit Entry Panel as follows:

OTHER PARTITIONED OR SEQUENTIAL DATA SET:
   DATA SET NAME ===> 'data.set.name(member)'

There are several ways you can use ISPF to create a new member in an existing PDS. In addition to the procedures described below, you may wish to refer to the section titled Allocating (Creating) a New Data Set in CNS document D0040, ISPF at CNS, for some other methods. Being familiar with all the various methods available will enable you to choose the easiest/most appropriate method for each specific occasion.

To create a new member in an existing PDS, enter the name of the data set on the Edit Entry Panel as described above (don't press <Enter> yet). Then type an S on the command line, a <space>, and a new member name.

COMMAND ===> S newmemb

Then press <Enter>.

Alternatively, you can specify a new member name on the Edit Entry Panel, as follows, and bypass the member list:

OTHER PARTITIONED OR SEQUENTIAL DATA SET:
   DATA SET NAME ===> 'data.set.name(newmemb)'

When you open an empty data set, the screen looks a little different than when you edit an existing data set. See the section titled "Editing an Empty Data Set or PDS Member."

TSO requires that space for a data set exist before you can edit it. TSO does not let the editor allocate a data set for you "on the fly." Therefore, before you can edit a new sequential data set, you must first allocate it. The procedure for doing this is covered in detail in CNS document D0040, ISPF at CNS, in the section titled Allocating (Creating) a New Data Set.

When you specify an empty sequential data set or new PDS member, your first edit session will display a screen that contains blank lines between special fields called the Top of Data and Bottom of Data message labels. There will be 'quote marks' ('''''') on the left of the screen, which will be replaced by line numbers after you type information on the lines. The 'quote marks' are in the line command fields; these fields are where you will type commands which apply to a specific line. The top line on your screen shows the name of the data set you are editing. The next line is the command line (Command ===>), where you enter some types of edit commands.

Figure 3. Editing an Empty Data Set or PDS Member

To begin entering data, <Tab> your cursor down to the first blank line after the TOP OF DATA message field. Enter your text or data. When you come to the end of the line, use your <Tab> key to move to the next blank line. As you continue typing lines, eventually you will fill up the screen. See the section "Inserting Lines and Entering Data" for information on how to input data.

When you press <Enter>, the 'quote marks' in the line command fields will be changed to line numbers. From here, see the section on "Using the Editor."

If you see ISPF messages (denoted by the word ==MSG> in the line command fields) below the main Command ===> line, enter the command RESET on the Command ===> line to get rid of them. RESET also gets rid of the 'quote marks' in the line command fields, and the unused blank lines .

The top line on your screen shows the name of the data set you are editing. The next line is the Command ===> line, where you enter some types of edit commands. At the top-right corner, the editor shows you the columns it is displaying (usually columns 1 to 72, depending on the width of your screen). Below it is the Scroll field that lets you specify how you want the screen to be scrolled. The next line is a message field that indicates the top of your data set (Top of Data). (Similarly, after the last line of your data set, which may not be visible on your screen, is a message line for the Bottom of Data.)

Next, the editor displays the first several lines of the data set (a screen's worth). Each line has a line number on the left of the screen. These are for entering line edit commands (commands which apply to a specific line) and are not part of your data.

Occasionally, the editor displays messages for you. These appear immediately after the command line and are denoted by ==MSG> in the line command field. If you see messages, you can get rid of them by entering the command RESET on the Command ===> line at the top of the screen.

All references to keys are to the IBM 3270 function that a key performs. Refer to your own keyboard mapping chart to determine which key you actually need to press to get the desired function.

At the bottom of the screen, the editor displays the default function key settings (<Fn>). Particularly useful ones include:

Other function keys perform more complex tasks, which are not discussed here. Refer to the documentation provided by IBM for detailed information on all the F-key functions.

The text entry (TE) command allows you to perform power typing. This is useful when you have many lines to enter. To begin power typing, enter TE in the line number field of the line where you want to insert text. The line command field on the left of the screen goes away, so that you can type your information as if it were one long line.

When you press the <Enter >key, the text is flowed into a paragraph.

Before you enter power typing mode, consider the following:

See "Edit Profiles" for more information about caps mode, bounds, and numbering.

To delete a range of lines, block off the area you would like to delete by typing the command DD next to the beginning and ending lines of your block. Press <Enter>. This deletes the entire block, including the ones containing the DD commands.

dd0020   This
000021   deletes
000022   lines
dd0023   20 through 23.

The procedure is exactly the same as moving blocks except use CC to block off the area.

cc0030  This is the start of
000031  a block that will
000032  be copied.
000033  The next line is
cc0034  the end of the block.
000035
000036
0b0037  Text is copied before this line.

The FIND command locates one or more occurrences of a specified string, starting with the current line. The simple format of the FIND command is:

find tso  /* finds the characters tso */ 
find "isn't"   /* finds the word isn't */ 
find '"string-1"' /* finds the word "string-1" */

The CHANGE primary command lets you change a specified character string to another string. The editor searches for the first string, beginning with the current line, and, when it finds it, changes it to the second string. The simple format of the CHANGE command is:

where "string-1" is the string to be changed, and "string-2" is the string you want the first one changed to. If either string contains non-alphanumeric characters, you must enclose the string in double quotes.

This form of the CHANGE command changes the first occurrence of "string-1" that it finds.

To change all occurrences of "string-1" to "string-2", use the ALL keyword on the CHANGE command.

Additional options on the CHANGE command allow you to specify a range of lines, indicate a case-sensitive match, or change a whole or part of a word. See IBM's document ISPF/PDF Edit and Edit Macros, for a complete description of CHANGE.

The LC line command converts all uppercase characters on a line or range of lines to lowercase. The LC command does not modify the caps mode in the profile of the data set you are editing. (See about profiles in "Edit Profiles.")

LCn changes n lines from uppercase to lowercase.

lc5030  THIS STARTS 5 LINES
000031  THAT WILL BE 
000032  CONVERTED TO
000033  LOWERCASE AFTER
000034  YOU PRESS <ENTER>.
000035
000036
000037  THIS LINE ISN'T AFFECTED.

LCLC lets you change a block of lines, inclusive, from uppercase to lowercase.

lclc30  THIS IS TEXT
000031  THAT WILL BE
000032  CONVERTED TO
000033  LOWERCASE AFTER
lclc34  YOU PRESS <ENTER>.
000035
000036
000037  THIS LINE ISN'T AFFECTED.

The UC line command converts all lowercase characters on a line or range of lines from to uppercase. The UC command does not modify the caps mode in the profile of the data set you are editing.

UCn changes n lines from lowercase to uppercase.

uc5030  this starts 5 lines
000031  that will be
000032  converted to
000033  uppercase after
000034  you press <enter>.
000035
000036
000037  this line isn't affected.

UCUC lets you change a block of lines, inclusive, from lowercase to uppercase.

ucuc30  this is text
000031  that will be
000032  converted to
000033  uppercase after
ucuc34  you press <enter>.
000035
000036
000037  this line isn't affected.

The ISPF editor also lets you define edit profiles (discussed later in this document), which are saved in the ISPF profile. Edit profiles define your editing environment and let you customize it for different types of files. By default, the editor associates profile characteristics with your data set, depending on a number of data set characteristics. These may be OK for you... or they may not. The section near the end of this document titled "Edit Profiles" briefly discusses how you can alter your current edit profile. For detailed information about creating and modifying edit profiles, see IBM manual ISPF/PDF Edit and Edit Macros.

A temporary ISPF profile data set is created automatically for you when you log on to TSO. It is assigned to the ddname ISPPROF. Since the data set is temporary, ISPF profile values are not saved between TSO sessions.

FREE DDN(ISPPROF)
ALLOC DD(ISPPROF) DS('prof.data.set.name') SHR REUSE

Edit profiles let you customize your editing environment to suit your needs. The editor uses a set of default profile commands if you do not create your own. Edit profiles are stored in your ISPF profile.

Some data set characteristics implicitly specify an edit profile. These include the name you use as the last qualifier in the data set name (e.g., .CLIST, .TEXT, or .CNTL); the record length; or record format. Also, the editor makes some assumptions about the data set based on the first few lines of data, such as how to set the case, whether to use internal sequence numbers, and others. Any of the default settings can be overridden by issuing a command on the command line.

To see the profile settings currently in effect, enter the PROFILE command on the command line. The editor will display several lines containing settings that affect your entire data set. To get rid of these lines, enter RESET on the command line.

See CNS document D0009, CNS Software and Software References for information on locating recommended IBM manuals. This document also tells how you can order IBM manuals.