Storm warning of pedantry to follow Sharuf Morsa's characterization of system variable symbols (like &SYSDATC) as 'GBLC symbols' is not quite right.
They are not global character set symbols. They cannot be set by a programmer at all; some have local and some have global scope; some have character values; others have arithmetic values; and still others have binary/boolean values. What they have in common with set symbols is 1) their possible data types, 2) their possible scopes, 3) that they can be used as points of substitution in model statements and 4) that they can be tested/examined in conditional-assembly [assembler] instructions. This is a lot of similarity, but the differences are crucial. They are horses of another color. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA
