Use CECI, which invokes the CICS command-level interpreter, to enter an EXEC CICS command, check its syntax, and modify it if necessary. In most cases, you can also process the command.
For programming information on each EXEC CICS command, see the CICS® Application Programming Reference or the CICS System Programming Reference.
For details of how to use the CECI transaction, see the CICS Application Programming Guide, which includes an example of a complete session with CECI.
Start the transaction by entering CECI on the command line of the screen, as follows:
CECI
Press ENTER. You get a list of all EXEC CICS commands.
STATUS: ENTER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING ABend DISAble ISsue RELease SUspend ACquire DISCard Journal RESEtbr SYncpoint ADdress DUmp LInk RESYnc Trace ALlocate ENAble LOad RETRieve Unlock ASKtime ENDbr Monitor RETUrn Verify ASSign ENQ PErform REWrite WAIT BIf ENTer POInt ROute WAITCics BUild EXtract POP SENd WRITE CAncel FEpi POSt SET WRITEQ CHange FOrmattime PURge SIGNOFf Xctl COLlect FREE PUSh SIGNON CONNect FREEMain Query SPOOLClose CONVerse GDs READ SPOOLOpen DELAy GEtmain READNext SPOOLRead DELETE Handle READPrev SPOOLWrite DELETEQ IGnore READQ START DEQ INquire RECeive STARTBr PF 1 HELP 2 HEX 3 END 4 EIB 5 VAR 6 USER 9 MSG
RETR STATUS: ABOUT TO EXECUTE COMMAND NAME= EXEC CICS RETRieve < Set() | Into() > < Length() > < RTRansid() > < RTErmid() > < Queue() > < Wait > PF 1 HELP 2 HEX 3 END 4 EIB 5 VAR 6 USER 7 SBH 8 SFH 9 MSG 10 SB 11 SF
Alternatively, you can enter CECI together with the name of the command in which you are interested, and bypass the full list of commands; for example:
CECI asktime
In both cases, you can generally go on to check the syntax of the command, change it if necessary, and then process the command.
Many CICS system programming commands use CVDA values, and CECI shows numeric equivalents for these. See the CICS System Programming Reference for programming information, including a "translation" of these numeric values to their alphabetic values.