Rational Developer for System z
PL/I for Windows, Version 8.0, Programming Guide

Controlling input from the terminal

To enter data for an input file, do both of the following:

You can usually use the standard default input file SYSIN because it is a stream file and can be allocated to the terminal.

You can be prompted for input to stream files by a colon (:) if you specify PROMPT(Y), see PROMPT. You can see the colon each time a GET statement is executed in the program. The GET statement causes the system to go to the next line. You can then enter the required data. If you enter a line that does not contain enough data to complete execution of the GET statement, a further prompt, which is a plus sign followed by a colon (+:), is displayed.

If you do not specify PROMPT(Y), the default is to have no colon visible at the beginning of the line.

By adding a hyphen to the end of any line that is to continue, you can delay transmission of the data to your program until you enter two or more lines. The hyphen is an explicit continuation character.

If your program includes output statements that prompt for input, you can inhibit the initial system prompt by ending your own prompt with a colon. For example, the GET statement could be preceded by a PUT statement:

  put skip list('Enter next item:');

To inhibit the system prompt for the next GET statement, your own prompt must meet the following conditions:

Rational Developer for System z
PL/I for Windows, Version 8.0, Programming Guide