iSeries AS/400 Cheat Sheet

When IBM iSeriesAS/400 new users make contact with such a system, it’s easy to get a bit lost in the command line.

AS/400 commands are generally constructed with concatenated syntactical blocks, each having it’s own meaning. Usually the first block on a command specifies the action and the remaining act as modifiers. 
For example, the command WRKSYSSTS:

  • WRK, is the first block and means WoRK
  • SYS, is the second block and means SYStem
  • STS, is the third block and means STatuS

Here’s some useful commands:

Working Active Jobs
Description: shows working active jobs.
Command: wrkactjob

Working Submitted Jobs
Description: shows the list of the working submitted jobs
Command: wrksbmjob

Working Object Lock
Description: shows the locks on an object, like a file.
Command: wrkobjlck (library/object)

CPU Usage Statistics
Description: shows CPU usage statistics, usually filtered to show only resource usages above 2%.
Command: who

Working System Status
Description: shows system overview usage status and statistics .
Command: wrksyssts

Working Disks Statistics
Description: shows disk usage statistics.
Command: wrkdsksts

Display Message Descriptions
Description: shows detailed information about the messages in a message file.
Command: dspmsgd range(messageId) msgf(library/file)

Display File
Description: shows the contents of a file.
Command: df library/file

Work with Objects
Description: shows a list of names and attributes of specified objects in specified libraries.
Command: wrkobj file

When in trouble, strike F1, AS/400 has contextual help.