Frank Swarbrick wrote:
>In Cobol the length parameter for linkage from a JCL PARM is a two-byte
field. Is this not the case in assembler?
If a primary program (compiled in any language) receives a parm via JCL, there
is a standard as imposed by IBM.
As documented: There is NO limit in parameter length, quantitity of
parameters and there is NO system-defined format.
Basically, the length and format are determined by the program/system which
is used to call the program (using the parameter) in question.
So, for example, the JCL interpreter/converter determines the parm length to
100 bytes (including commas) as documented.
Linkage convention is that the address of the parameter is in GPR 1. The
length field is on a 2 byte boundary on that address.
This convention is independent of the language used to compile and link-edit
your program(s).
I suggest that you read MVS Programming: Assembler Services Guide and MVS
JCL Reference for more info.
My own example of parm usage (Parm: Julian date) :
L R2,0(R1) PARM (YYYYDDD)
*
CLC 0(2,R2),=X'0000' No Parms supplied
BNE NEXT
WTO ' No Parms supplied, processing continues...'
B NOPARM
NEXT CLC 0(2,R2),=X'0007' CHECK FOR LENGTH
BNE PARMERR
*
WTO ' Date was supplied.'
... ETC ...
HTH
Groete / Greetings
Elardus Engelbrecht
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