Technical data

SPAWN
SPAWN
The SPAWN command creates a sub-process of the current process.
Format
SPAWN [/qualifiers] [command-string]
Parameters
command-string
Specifies a command string of up to 131 characters that is to be executed in the
context of the created sub-process. When the command completes, the sub-process
terminates and control returns to the parent process.
If you do not specify a command string, a sub-process is created and remains
until you log out.
Qualifiers
/INPUT=file-spec
Specifies an input file that contains one or more DCL commands to be executed
by the spawned sub-process. Once processing of the input file is complete, the
sub-process is terminated. If both a command string and the /INPUT qualifier
are specified, the specified command string is executed before the DCL commands
in the file specified by the /INPUT qualifier.
/LOGICAL_NAMES
/NOLOGICAL_NAMES
Specifies whether process logical names and logical name tables are to be copied
to the spawned sub-process. The default is LOGICAL_NAMES.
/OUTPUT=file-spec
Specifies the name of the output file to which the spawned sub-process writes its
output. The default is SYS$OUTPUT.
/PROCESS_NAME=subprocess-name
Specifies the name of the sub-process to be created. By default, a unique process
name is assigned with the same base name as the parent process and a unique
number.
/PROMPT=string
Specifies the prompt for DCL to use within the sub-process. By default, SPAWN
copies the current prompt from the parent process.
/SYMBOLS
/NOSYMBOLS
Specifies whether the system passes DCL global and local symbols to the sub-
process. The default is /SYMBOLS.
/WAIT
/NOWAIT
Specifies whether the system waits until the current sub-process is completed
before allowing more commands to be issued by the parent process. The default
is /WAIT.
CTF Commands 4–17