PA1 key
A 3270 key that interrupts what TSO is doing, such as stopping a command that is taking too long or printing too much.
Also written attention key, ATTN, PA2, attention interrupt
The 3270 keyboard has PA keys, program attention keys, as well as PF keys. PA1 is the one to know. In TSO it sends an attention interrupt, which stops the command or program that is running and returns you to where you can type again.
It is useful when a command is producing far more output than you expected, or seems to be stuck. Instead of waiting, you press PA1. In ISPF, an attention may give you a choice to end the function or carry on.
Terminal emulators place PA1 in different places. Common choices are Alt and 1, or a key set up by your site, so check your emulator's keyboard settings once and remember it. PA2 exists too and is used by some applications, for example to show the screen again.
PA1 does not cancel a batch job. A submitted job runs separately from your terminal, and stopping it needs SDSF or an operator command. PA1 only affects what is running in your own session.
Where can I learn this hands-on?
Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
Start at ZedBankRelated
- PF keysThe function keys F1 to F24, which carry the main actions on a mainframe screen: help, exit, save, page up and down.
- 3270 terminalThe classic mainframe display device, and the protocol still used today to talk to z/OS over a network.
- TSOTime Sharing Option: the interactive login environment on z/OS, where you get a command prompt and a session of your own.
- TSO commandA command typed at a TSO prompt or on an ISPF command line to ask the system to do something directly.
- Green screenThe text-only, keyboard-driven interface most mainframe work happens through, named after the green phosphor of early terminals.