1X3270IF(1) General Commands Manual X3270IF(1)
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6 x3270if - command interface to x3270, c3270 and s3270
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9 x3270if [option]... [ action ]
10 x3270if -i
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13 x3270if provides an interface between scripts and the 3270 emulators
14 x3270, c3270, and s3270.
15 x3270if operates in one of two modes. In action mode, it passes a sin‐
17 gle action and parameters to the emulator for execution. The result of
18 the action is written to standard output, along with the (optional)
19 status of the emulator. (The action is optional as well, so that
20 x3270if can just reports the emulator status.) In iterative mode, it
21 forms a continuous conduit between a script and the emulator.
22 The action takes the form:
24 action-name(param[,param]...)
26 The parentheses are manatory, and usually must be quoted when x3270if
28 is called from a shell script.
29 If any param contains a space or comma, it must be surrounded by double
31 quotes.
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34 -s field
35 Causes x3270if to write to stdout the value of one of the emula‐
36 tor status fields. Field is an integer in the range 0 through
37 11. The value 0 is a no-op and is used only to return exit sta‐
38 tus indicating the state of the emulator. The indices 1-11 and
39 meanings of each field are documented on the x3270-script(1)
40 manual page. If an action is specified as well, the status
41 field is written after the output of the action, separated by a
42 newline. The -s option is mutually exclusive with the -S and -i
43 options.
44 -S Causes x3270if to write to stdout the value of all of the emula‐
46 tor status fields. If an action is specified as well, the sta‐
47 tus fields are written after the output of the action, separated
48 by a newline. The -S option is mutually exclusive with the -s
49 and -i options.
50 -i Puts x3270if in iterative mode. Data from x3270if's standard
52 input is copied to the emulator's script input; data from the
53 emulator's script output is copied to x3270if's standard output.
54 The -i option is mutually exclusive with the -s and -S options.
55 x3270if runs until it detects end-of-file on its standard input
56 or on the output from the emulator. (This mode exists primarily
57 to give expect(1) a process to run, on systems which do not sup‐
58 port bidirectional pipes.)
59 -v Turns on verbose debug messages, showing on stderr the literal
61 data that is passed between the emulator and x3270if.
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64 In action mode, if the requested action succeeds, x3270if exits with
65 status 0. If the action fails, x3270if exits with status 1. In itera‐
66 tive mode, x3270if exits with status 0 when it encounters end-of-file.
67 If there is an operational error within x3270if itself, such as a com‐
68 mand-line syntax error, missing environment variable, or an unexpect‐
69 edly closed pipe, x3270if exits with status 2.
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72 x3270, c3270, and s3270 use a pair of pipes for communication with each
73 child process. The values of the file descriptors for these pipes are
74 encoded as text in two environment variables, which are required by
75 x3270if:
76 X3270OUTPUT
78 Output from the emulator, input to the child process.
79 X3270INPUT
81 Input to the emulator, output from the child process.
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84 x3270(1), c3270(1), s3270(1), x3270-script(1)
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87 Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 by Paul Mattes.
88 Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software
89 and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby
90 granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all
91 copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
92 notice appear in supporting documentation.
93 09 April 2005 X3270IF(1)