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Access to the operating system

From the command line there is access to individual DCL commands by issuing them prefixed with a $, or OS. Thus:

LEXT - IMAGE mode > $ SHOW TIME
+ Creating DCL subprocess. Please wait...
  1-JAN-1999 12:52:48

Since DCL access is provided via a sub-process, DCL commands which are intended to refer to the parent process, such as SET DEFAULT, will not work. The subprocess , which is created the first time DCL is invoked, takes a few seconds to start up, but remains running so that subsequent commands are quicker.