I don't disagree, but I think I've found a way around it -- a way that
satisfies me most days, anyway. Almost all my REXX programs start something
like this:
/* This REXX does a blah, blah, blah.... */
parse source . calltyp self .
aid='' /* ACID */
fterm=0 /* start with TERMINAL mode off */
nit=5 /* default iteration count */
arg args; do while args<>''; parse var args arg args; select
when arg='DBG' then trace 'I'
when abbrev('TERMINAL',arg,4) then fterm=1
when datatype(arg)='NUM' then nit=arg
when length(arg)<=8 then aid=arg
otherwise call abend arg'?',"I don't understand what you mean",
"by '"arg"'."; end; end
if aid='' then call abend 'No ACID!',"I need an ACID from you."
Sometimes I have many WHEN statements in this section, each one identifying
a particular argument. You'll notice that the operator can enter arguments
for the above program in any order and still have them identified correctly,
the only restriction (in this case) being that there cannot be an ACID named
"DBG". I can handle named arguments, too, eg "TYPE(PROFILE)", but I rarely
need them.
I agree that CLIST handles this better, and every so often I think about a
REXX subroutine that imitates it. Then any of my REXXes could call the
subroutine, and the subroutine could parse the arguments and return them on
the stack. I've gotten as far writing something that handles embedded
quotes and comments, but haven't expanded it to parens yet.
---
Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313
/* You'd better check the temperature in hell, first. -Sinclair */
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of
Seymour J Metz
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 04:24
That's one of the few weaknesses of REXX compared to CLIST; no keyword
parameters. It's actually easier to parse TSO command operands in assembler
than in REXX. I wish that REXX included XPARSE, or an equivalent to the Perl
Getopt::Long package. Even the PROC statement of CLIST would be an
improvement.
________________________________________
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [[email protected]] on behalf of
Bob Bridges [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2021 6:06 PM
4) This isn't exactly a bad-coding issue, but as much as possible I want the
input arguments on a command to come in any order I happen to think of them
at the time. My routine to search through a concatenation of PDSs for a
particular module has to receive the DD and module name in a particular
order, but mostly it's possible to say "tso command arg1 arg2 arg3" or "tso
command arg2 arg1 arg3" without any confusion.
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