This command is used to specify one or more programs to execute. The programs and their associated parameters are listed in the lines that follow the :RUN command.

Each program that is run can dynamically create DSP commands by writing them to its standard output device. When the program terminates, any DSP commands that were written to the standard output device are immediately interpreted by DSPINSTL. The dynamically created DSP commands are interpreted before any DSP file lines, which follow the :RUN program line, are interpreted. The program should use only the standard output device for the writing of DSP commands.

If a :RUN program generates output other than DSP lines, it must be redirected to another file or to NULL (see the following example).

    :RUN
     MYPROG.EXE >NUL 2>&1

The :RUN command ignores the return code from each of the programs that it executes. Each program specification line that follows the :RUN keyword command must adhere to the following format:

    <program pathname> [<program parameters>]

The :RUN command can also be used to execute OS/2 command files (.CMD files).