Following is a list of the normal IBM ISPF Primary and Line commands along with an indication of whether they are supported or not, and if so, the name of the equivalent SPFLite command.


Note:  When a line command is longer than 1 character, the "block mode" name of the command is formed by repeating the last letter. For example, the command UC becomes UCC. 


IBM Line Commands


IBM Line Command

Supported

SPFLite Command

(—Column Shift Left

Yes

(

)—Column Shift Right

Yes

)

<—Data Shift Left 

Yes

<

>—Data Shift Right 

Yes

>

A—Specify an “After” Destination

Yes

A

B—Specify a “Before” Destination

Yes

B

BOUNDS—Define Boundary Columns

Yes

BNDS

C—Copy Lines

Yes

C/CC

COLS—Identify Columns

Yes

COLS

D—Delete Lines

Yes

D/DD

F—Show the First Line 

Yes

F

I—Insert Lines 

Yes

I

L—Show the Last Line(s)

Yes

L

LC—Convert Characters to Lowercase

Yes

LC/LCC

M—Move Lines

Yes

M/MM

MASK—Define Masks

Yes

MASK

MD—Make Dataline

Yes

MD

O—Overlay Lines

Yes

O/OO

R—Repeat Lines

Yes

R/RR

S—Show Lines 

Yes

Not Supported

TABS—Control Tabs

Yes

TABS

TE—Text Entry

No

none - see note 1

TF—Text Flow 

Yes

TF/TFF

TS—Text Split 

Yes

TS

UC—Convert Characters to Uppercase

Yes

UC/UCC

X—Exclude Lines

Yes

X/XX


IBM Primary Commands

IBM Primary Command

Supported

SPFLite Command

AUTOLIST—Create a Source Listing Automatically

No

none - see note 2

AUTONUM—Number Lines Automatically

No

none - see note 3

AUTOSAVE—Save Data Automatically

Yes

AUTOSAVE

BOUNDS—Control the Edit Boundaries

Yes

BOUNDS

BROWSE—Browse from within an Edit Session

Yes

BROWSE

BUILTIN—Process a Built-In Command

No

none - see note 4

CANCEL—Cancel Edit Changes

Yes

CANCEL

CAPS—Control Automatic Character Conversion

Yes

CAPS

CHANGE—Change a Data String

Yes

CHANGE

COLS—Display Fixed Columns Line

Yes

COLS

COMPARE—Edit Compare

No

none - see note 5

COPY—Copy Data

Yes

COPY

CREATE—Create Data

Yes

CREATE

CUT—Cut and Save Lines

Yes

CUT

DEFINE—Define a Name

No

none - see note 4

DELETE—Delete Lines

Yes

DELETE

EDIT—Edit from within an Edit Session

Yes

EDIT

EDITSET—Display the Editor Settings Dialog

Yes

OPTIONS

END—End the Edit Session

Yes

END

EXCLUDE—Exclude Lines from the Display

Yes

EXCLUDE

FIND—Find a Data String

Yes

FIND

FLIP—Reverse Exclude Status of Lines

Yes

FLIP

HEX—Display Hexadecimal Characters

Yes

HEX

HIDE—Hide Excluded Lines Message

Yes

HIDE

HILITE—Enhanced Edit Coloring

Yes

HILITE

IMACRO—Specify an Initial Macro

Yes

IMACRO

LEVEL—Specify the Modification Level Number

No

none - see note 6

LOCATE—Locate a Line

Yes

LOCATE

MODEL—Copy a Model into the Current Data Set

No

none - see note 7

MOVE—Move Data

No

none - see note 8

NONUMBER—Turn Off Number Mode

No

none - see note 3

NOTES—Display Model Notes

No

none - see note 10

NULLS—Control Null Spaces

No

none - see note 11

NUMBER—Generate Sequence Numbers

No

none - see note 3

PACK—Compress Data

No

none - see note 12

PASTE—Move or Copy Lines from Clipboard

Yes

PASTE

PRESERVE—Enable Saving of Trailing Blanks

Yes

PRESERVE

PROFILE—Control and Display Your Profile

Yes

PROFILE

RCHANGE—Repeat a Change

Yes

RCHANGE

RECOVERY—Control Edit Recovery.

Yes

SETUNDO

RENUM—Renumber Data Set Lines

No

none - see note 3

REPLACE—Replace Data

Yes

REPLACE

RESET—Reset the Data Display

Yes

RESET

RFIND—Repeat Find

Yes

RFIND

RMACRO—Specify a Recovery Macro

No

none

SAVE—Save the Current Data

Yes

SAVE

SETUNDO—Set the UNDO Mode

Yes

SETUNDO

SORT—Sort Data

Yes

SORT

STATS—Generate Library Statistics

No

none - see note 9

SUBMIT—Submit Data for Batch Processing

Yes

SUBMIT

TABS—Define Tabs

Yes

TABS

UNDO—Reverse Last Edit Interaction

Yes

UNDO

UNNUMBER—Remove Sequence Numbers

No

none - see note 3

VERSION—Control the Version Number

No

none - see note 6

VIEW—View from within an Edit Session

No

VIEW



Note 1: The TE command was implemented by IBM to simplify large text entry on 3270 terminals. It is possible to enter text using the I line command, then post-processing it with other "text" line commands, to simulate the effect of TE.


Note 2: The PRINT and PRINT SETUP can be used to print a data file. AUTOLIST was not implemented because this command, implemented in the 1980's on IBM mainframes, supports a "hardcopy-centric" way of working, which modern PC users don't do.


Note 3: The Enumerate keyboard functions can be used to simulate some of the effect of AUTONUM, but would have to be applied manually as needed. AUTONUM in ISPF is intended to put sequence numbers in fixed columns of "card image" files, something that is rarely needed on PC files.


Note 4: Some of the functionality of BUILTIN and DEFINE is handled by the SET primary command.


Note 5: For COMPARE operations, an external Compare or DIFF utility can be used. A useful freeware DIFF program for Windows is called KDiff3.


Note 6: The LEVEL and VERSION commands were intended to store versions and modification level numbers in the "sequence field" of card-image data. For PC users, this functionality is better served by storing files in a source code control system of some type.


Note 7: The ISPF command MODEL is intended to copy 'prototype' definitions into a file, such as a standard calling sequence. It is possible to create a somewhat similar prototype file if the prototype file and your data file both have a file type for which STATE ON is in effect, and then use NOTE lines to define the prototype definition. As you fill-in your prototype to make it an actual part of your data file, you can use the MD (Make Data) line command to transform the NOTE lines into data lines.


Note 8: The ISPF command MOVE was not implemented because experience has shown that most mainframe users will first COPY an external file, and then delete it afterwards, after the file it was copied into is saved. Doing it that way prevents loss of information if there was an interruption between the MOVE and the subsequent SAVE. The MOVE command is thus a high-risk command. By not implementing MOVE, we have "erred on the side of caution" to help you avoid unrecoverable data loss.


Note 9: The Windows file system natively supports all of the ISPF compatible STATS information, except for the number of data lines in the file. A file's line count is stored in its STATE information when the file is saved, if STATE ON is in effect for that file type. If you wish to see the number of lines in a file when displaying it in File Manager, ensure that the file's PROFILE settings include STATE ON. If a given file has a PROFILE with STATE ON in effect but the line count does not appear in File Manager, you can use the L (Lines) FM line command to have SPFLite count the number of lines in the file, update the STATE information accordingly, and display the line count in FM. (The line count might be absent from the display if the file were stored into a directory but had not yet been directly saved by SPFLite.)


Note 10: SPFLite does not have a Dialog Manager and does not support Models or model notes. It is possible to create "model-like" files. See note 7.


Note 11: In ISPF it it necessary to manage the handling of 3270 NULL characters because it affects the transmission of data to and from the host, and can affect the ability to insert data into fields without being "locked out". In SPFLite, the equivalent of a 3270 "locked" condition will not happen, and so the NULLS command is not needed.


Note 12: The ISPF command PACK was intended to provide a form of data compression. This capability can be achieved directly in Windows through the use of data compression, applied as a property of an individual file or of its containing directory. Windows compression works better than ISPF PACK does, because unlike ISPF, Windows directly supports compressed files and does not require a decompress utility to access and use them.

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