READY prompt
The word TSO shows when it is waiting for you to type a command.
Also written READY, TSO READY, ISPF option 6, TSO command line
READY is TSO's prompt. When TSO shows READY, it is waiting for a command. You type one, such as LISTCAT or a REXX exec's name, press Enter, see the result, and get READY again.
Most people work in ISPF, so they see READY less often. You meet it if your logon does not start ISPF automatically, when you leave ISPF with =X, or when you use ISPF option 6, which gives you a screen for typing TSO commands. To return to ISPF from a bare READY prompt, type ISPF or the name your site uses.
You can also run TSO commands from almost any ISPF command line by putting TSO in front of them, such as TSO LISTDS 'ZBANK.DATA', without going to READY at all.
Messages after a command often start with IKJ, which marks them as TSO messages. If you see READY when you expected a menu, nothing is wrong: you are simply at the TSO level, one step outside ISPF.
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
- 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.
- LogonSigning on to a mainframe system with a user ID and password to start an interactive session.
- ISPFThe full-screen, menu-driven workbench most people use to do their day-to-day work on z/OS.
- REXX execA REXX program, stored as a member in a library and run by name from TSO or ISPF.