z Command (Background/Phantom Process Commands)

The z command starts a phantom job. Phantom jobs run in the background, meaning that they do not necessarily need a terminal present.

Syntax

z {h}{s}{d} {tcl.command}

Parameter(s)

h	The zh form of the command holds all terminal output in a D3 spooler file hold entry (see the Spooler section for more information)
s	The zs form of the command suppresses error messages. Otherwise, error messages display on the terminal that initiated the phantom process.
d	The zd form of the command deletes the phantom job item from the jobs file after completion, unless the phantom process prematurely aborts or gets logged off.
tcl.command	Specifies the TCL statement to be executed as the phantom process. If a TCL command is specified, no further prompting occurs, and the job is submitted using all the default values from the following prompts. If a TCL command is not specified, it prompts for the following:
	user-id:	If a user ID is specified and you are logged on as a user other than the DM user, a user password is requested. The default is the current user-ID. Passwords are case-sensitive.
	md id:	If the md ID specified, an account password is requested. The default is the current master dictionary.
	tcl command:	Specifies the (initial) TCL statement to execute by the phantom process.
	line:	Specifies the port number on which the process is to run. If not specified, a phantom line is used.
	input data:	Designates input data to be stacked for use by the phantom process. Each separate string must be terminated by pressing ENTER. A null response may be stacked by pressing CTRL+N, ENTER. Pressing ENTER at the input data: prompt indicates that all commands have been entered and the process is then released to the phantom scheduler.

Description

After a phantom process is initiated, the user can use the terminal originating the phantom process for other jobs. The dm,jobs, file tracks phantom processes. Phantom processes can be monitored with the list-jobs command.

NOTE

If the z command is used by the DM user, User and MD passwords are not prompted for.
The h, s, and d command forms can be used in any combination of the three options. However, they must be specified in the same order in which they appear in the above syntax. For example, you can run the commands zhsd, zhd, or zd, but running zshd or zdh is not allowed.

h always precedes s or d.
s always follows the h and precedes the d.
d always follows h or s.

Example(s)

user-id (<cr>=kim):

md id (<cr>=ref):

command: compile bp process.see.also

Press CTRL+N, Enter, to enter null data.

input data:

[438] Job #882632715 Submitted.

This illustrates the prompted sequence. After the job completes, a message is transmitted to the sender, indicating that the job has completed:

09:05:18 29 Mar 2003 from user kim line 129

[241] Successful compile! 1 frame(s) used.

z count entity

[438] Job #892243266 submitted.

This is the unprompted form.