Defines the sequence of characters, or the function or attention key or lightpen, which causes a return to the IBM Session Manager Menu screen from an active application.
This common end-user parameter is applicable to these control statements: SYSTEM (see SYSTEM statement), PROFILE (see PROFILE statement), USER (see USER statement), and TERMINAL (see TERMINAL statement).
ESCAPE escape [CURSOR row col]
escape, which must be delimited by a null or a space when issued, can be from one to eight characters long, PF1-PF24, PA1-3, ATTN, CLEAR (all non-Menu escapes do not support this key) or PEN.
Note: In this document, the 0x7C (that is, x'7C') character is always presented as the @ sign. It may be displayed as a different character in some non-English code pages. You should enter the appropriate 0x7C character symbol for the code page you are using.
By defining the Menu panel appropriately, using a defined input field (variable t_esc) the escape sequence can be modified dynamically. See the PANEL statement in the Panels, Scripts and Variables manual.
Note: If the CLEAR key is used as the Menu escape key (either at login time or dynamically by the user) then previously typed data will be lost. Also, since CLEAR key escape processing makes use of the MISER facility to reduce data traffic to and from applications, IBM Session Manager will automatically ensure that MISER is active for all sessions.
If this optional subparameter is specified, the escape only occurs when the cursor is in the specified row and column. This applies to PF key escape ids, the lightpen id and escape character sequences, but not to PA key escape ids, the ATTN key or the CLEAR key. The effect is to stop IBM Session Manager from interpreting valid input to the session as an escape sequence, but still allows escape from a session.
Note: The ESCAPE parameter is affected by parameters CMDACTIONKEY and COMMANDPRFXVAL (see CMDACTIONKEY and COMMANDPRFXVAL).
If a Menu escape key is pressed twice within a specified time interval (see DOUBLESC) then the escape key will be sent to the application. Any previously typed data will be lost.
Note: 'Double escape' processing works only when the Menu ESCAPE parameter is specified with either a PA key or a PF key. Also, 'double escape' processing does not work with any other escape sequences - that is, FORWARD, BACKWARD, and so on.