I started using // at the end of all my jobs back when my jobs really were on card decks. We called it a "hard end of job". My understanding back then was that the system read in my card deck and would keep looking for more cards in my job until it hit either the // hard end of job or the next job card. Your job on a card deck did not really get submitted until the card reader saw the // or the next JOB card. So I always put // at the end so my job would be submitted immediately. You didn't have to do that if the computing center was busy and there were lots of frequent jobs, but if you were there by yourself when it was quiet (as I often was) you put on the // to get your job moving right away. I assume there was some sort of timeout value in the system that would eventually submit a job with no // at the end even if there were no next JOB card for a while.
I still use it today as a handy place to keep junk. For jobs that frequently change I keep alternatives for the DD cards and such below the // and they get ignored. When I edit the job I can quickly and easily change the jobs by adding or deleting // cards or moving stuff above or below the // card. It's easier than using //* to comment out blocks of lines and then uncomment them when I want them. I never tried putting it at the top like your example. --Roger On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 11:00 AM, Paul Gilmartin <paulgboul...@aim.com>wrote: > I keep a lot of JCL in Unix files and submit the jobs with FTP. > > I often place inactive job steps, comments, notes, whatever at > the end of the file, after a "//" line. Sometimes I even keep > a description at the front: > > Here's what the following job does ... > // > //NAME JOB ... > > Causes no problems other than an occasional SYSLOG message: > > $HASP125 user INTRDR SKIPPING FOR JOB CARD > > ... which I don't happen to consider a problem. But today I > happened to glance at one of my jobs with SDSF SJ. The "//" > and all the following stuff are visible. So, from the SJ > display I issued SUBMIT. The "//" and following are not shown > by SJ for that submitted job. So, I try writing the content of > the edit buffer to DD SYSOUT(,INTRDR) (I have a macro for that). > Again, the "//" and following stuff are visible in that > submitted job. > > So, I conclude that breaking of jobstreams at "//" is perormed > not by JCL processing, but by TSO SUBMIT. > > It's probably more complicated than that. > > -- gil > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
