New Enterprise Co:Z Release 8.1.0 is available. Review the Release Notes and Download.
New Enterprise Co:Z Release 8.1.0 is available.

Co:Z Batch is an IBM z/OS batch utility program that allows a Unix command or shell to be executed in a batch job step. As an alternative to confusing IBM utilities such as BPXBATCH, Co:Z Batch is designed to simplify the integration of z/OS Unix with batch jobs.

The Co:Z SFTP client, Co:Z Dataset Pipes commands, and Co:Z z/OS Utilities can easily be integrated with Co:Z Batch.

Examples:

The Examples section in the Co:Z Batch User's Guide provides many examples including

  • using the todns and fromdsn Dataset Pipes commands
  • using Co:Z SFTP to script a batch SFTP client job to download a file to a z/OS dataset

Features:

Co:Z Batch is a utility that is similar to BPXBATCH, however it offers several improvements:

  • Executes the Unix program or shell in the same address space, which simplifies job accounting and allows for the use of resources such as DD statements by the Unix program.
  • STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR files from the Unix program are redirected to DD statements, which may refer to z/OS datasets or spool files.
  • If not specified, the default Unix program to run is the user's default login shell.
  • Environment variables may be set using a STDENV DD, or passed in via JCL PARM= . Multiple COZBATCH steps may be used together to pass JCL variables into Unix environment variables, so as to avoid the limits imposed by 100-character PARM= fields.
  • If a program is run directly, its name and arguments are given in JCL PARM= and program arguments support quoting.
  • The Unix program or shell exit code is used as the step return code, but this may be overridden by a PARM setting.

Features Comparison:

Feature BPXBATCH BPXBATSL AOPBATCH COZBATCH
Same address space no yes yes yes
STDOUT/STD to dataset/sysout yes (1.7+) yes (1.7+) yes yes
STDIN from dataset/sysin no no yes yes
Run a default login shell yes no (unless root) no yes
Run a Unix command without a shell yes yes yes yes
Set ENV vars from JCL vars limited[1] limited[1] limited[1] yes
PARM= args support quoting no no yes yes
Override(set) step return code no no no yes

[1] One or more ENVAR() LE runtime options may be specified on the PARM to set environment variables using JCL variables.
The size of the entire PARM field is limited to 100 characters.