---
title: "Jobs and spool"
---

# Jobs and spool

Submitting JCL to z/OS after confirmation, following a job, the job editor with its steps and spool, Show z/OS Jobs with filters, SDSF job actions, editing a job's JCL, and writing spool output to a data set or file.

**Verification state:** submit, status, spool and job actions are tested against documented-format fixtures and the local z/OSMF-shaped server, on Linux. **Not yet run against z/OS.** The verification kit submits a job, reads its spool with a record range, and holds, releases and purges it. The job editor is verified in the running app with local jobs; a z/OS job has not been shown in the running app against a host.

## Submit a job

1. Open a JCL file or a `zosmvs:` member (unsaved text is included).
2. Press **Ctrl+Alt+Shift+J**, click **Submit JCL to z/OS** in the title bar, or right-click the JCL in the Explorer. With no active JCL, the workspace's only job, or a job picked from the application map, is used.
3. Read the confirmation. It names the job, the connection, the host and port and the user, and says when the connection was a fallback (the Zowe default or the only one) rather than the project's.
4. Confirm. The job is followed until its output is ready (polling with backoff, cancellable) and opens in the job editor.

![Submit JCL to z/OS asking first, naming the job, the connection, its host and port, and the user (against a modelled z/OSMF server).](https://neuralinverse.com/docs-images/modules/mainframe/submit-confirmation.webp)

"Don't ask again for this connection" is kept per connection, unless the machine setting `neuralInverse.mainframe.alwaysConfirmJobSubmit` makes every submission ask. With no connection, Submit offers **Add z/OS Connection**. A failed job gives one notification with **Show Job**, and the Task Completed or Task Failed signal is played and announced when a job ends.

## The job editor

The job editor shows any job, on z/OS or run locally:

- name, id, origin, state, return code and times;
- each step with its condition code, abend, messages and steps not run, and the failing statement as a link to its line;
- the spool by step, each file opening read-only;
- for a z/OS job, its class and JES phase and the SDSF actions below;
- for a local run, "Compiled With" and a note that results are GnuCOBOL's.

It follows the job while it runs and reopens after a restart from the job's record. **Show Mainframe Jobs** picks another job. When a step abends, the Language Environment message is mapped to the failing source line: see [Abend to source](https://neuralinverse.com/docs/modules/mainframe/compile/#abend-to-source). Accessibility Help (Alt+F1) in the job editor names its keys.

![The job editor for a sample job: job ID, JES phase, return code, each step's RC and the spool by step (against a modelled z/OSMF server).](https://neuralinverse.com/docs-images/modules/mainframe/zos-job-editor.webp)

### Spool files

Every spool file opens as a read-only document (`zosspool:`). One larger than `neuralInverse.mainframe.largeDownloadMegabytes` (50 MB) opens with its first 10,000 records and **Load All Spool Records**.

JES2 messages (IEF142I, IEF472I, IEF450I, IEF202I, IEF272I, IEF452I, IEF453I) give step results on z/OSMF levels without step data. The step-data field names are as IBM documents them, not observed.

## Find jobs: Show z/OS Jobs

**Show z/OS Jobs** (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S) lists up to 1,000 jobs, filtered by owner, job name prefix, job ID and status (for example `owner=BATCHP prefix=PAY* status=output`). The filter is remembered per connection. The filters' wildcard semantics are modelled.

## Act on a job (SDSF's job actions)

From the job editor and Show z/OS Jobs:

| Command | SDSF | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **Hold z/OS Job** | H | A queued or running job; followed by a status read |
| **Release z/OS Job** | A | Followed by a status read |
| **Change z/OS Job Class** | Class overtype | Followed by a status read |
| **Cancel z/OS Job** | C | |
| **Purge z/OS Job Output** | P | Asks for confirmation wherever it starts |

## Edit a job's JCL

- **Edit z/OS Job JCL** (SDSF's SJ) opens the JCL of a job; it is resubmitted only to the system it came from.
- **Edit Spool File Copy** (SDSF's SE) opens a copy of a spool file you can edit.

## Keep spool output

- **Write Spool Output to Data Set** (SDSF's XD and XDC) writes a spool file to a data set: FBA or VBA from the spool's record format, with ANSI control characters added where missing. A new data set is allocated after a confirmation.
- **Save Spool Output to File** (SDSF's XF) saves it to a local file.

Spool output to data set and file is tested against the z/OSMF-shaped server only.

SDSF's panels, the system log and console commands are on [SDSF panels and console commands](https://neuralinverse.com/docs/modules/mainframe/sdsf/).