The ISHELL is an alternative to using shell commands. For a z/OS user familiar with ISPF, this can be easier to use. If you've completed any of the lab exercises so far, you'll also be familiar with the ISHELL. Most of the functions that can be performed using the ISHELL are related to the file system. A regular user can use the ISHELL to work with directories and regular files, [inaudible] special files, and symbolic links. A sysadmin can do all of this and the good deal more including mount and unmount a file system, setup z/OS Unix users and groups, change attributes for z/OS Unix users, create character special files, and setup the root file system. Now, if you look across the top here, you'll see a number of pull-down menus and we're showing the directory menu here. The first option directory list has been enhanced to include all sorts of features such as sorting columns, using color highlighting, and executing actions based upon cursor location. Here is the directory list and it, are you ready for this? Lists the files of a directory. Other new features of the directory list since z/OS version 1.6 include wildcard support on the directory list and an option to inherit the command line position from the previous dialogue. Sorting is available for any column that can be displayed even if that column is not selected for display. A secondary sort column can also be specified. This support allows you to arrange the list by file type, for example, and within file type by another attribute such as name, date, or size. The highlighting enhancements allow entries in the directory lists to be highlighted based on a number of different criteria. There are no defaults defined, so if you want to highlight entries in a directory list, you must set it up to do so. The terminal must support colors for this feature to work. The use of this feature on terminals that don't support color might produce some interesting and wildly arbitrary highlighting for filenames. We can set the highlighting criteria for things like when the sticky bit is on, when a file is marked as executable, and so forth. Support has been added to ISPF for the processing of z/OS Unix files. This support includes the ability to edit, browse, create, delete, rename, copy, and replace z/OS Unix files. This new support is implemented as a directory list utility known as the z/OS Unix Directory List Utility available as option 17 on the ISPF Utilities menu. This initial implementation of the Directory List Utility provides a subset of the functions that are supported by ISHELL. The set of functions supported by the Directory List facility are aimed to assist with basic tasks undertaken by programmers. The utility is not really aimed at users like z/OS Unix file system admins. Now, as much as possible, the Directory List Utility is designed to behave and support commands similar to the data set list utility, which is ISPF option 3.4. That's done on purpose to assist users who are familiar with the operation of a data set list utility, but maybe have less experience working with z/OS Unix files through utilities such as OVS or ISHELL. When option 17 on the ISPF utility selection panel, so that's ISPF option 3.17, is entered, the z/OS Unix directory list utility entry panel is displayed. This panel supports the following options, blank, to display a list of files in a directory, and P, to print a list of files in a directory to the ISPF list data set. For either option, the user must enter in the path name field, the path name of a directory they want to display or to print. If a path name is not entered, well, then the user's home path is assumed. The z/OS Unix directory list panel is displayed when the option field is left blank and enter is pressed on the entry panel. This panel lists all the files in a directory. The information for each entry in the directory is displayed in comm field across the screen. Now, keep in mind that the number of columns displayed depends upon the available screen width. This example here shows the initial directory list display on a terminal with a screen width of 85 and a screen depth of 31. Horizontal scrolling is supported using the right and left primary commands or function keys 11 and 10. This example shows a directory list display after entering the command, right, 5, on the directory list shown on the previous screenshot. The order in which columns appear in the directory list display and the size of the fields can be customized using the z/OS Unix directory list column arrangement panel. This panel is accessed by using the pull-down menu displayed under options on the action bar on the z/OS Unix directory list entry and display panels. Here, the user can change the order in which the columns are displayed and the width of the column fields. If a column field's width is set to zero, the column is not displayed in the directory list. In the next video, we'll discuss how to perform tasks by using the directory list utility panels.
