In that era, double ampersand was invalid. When IBM added symbolic parameters, 
they added double ampersand as an escape for a single ampersand. I don't know 
whether they were thinking about  temporary DSNs when they came up with the 
rule.

________________________________________
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of 
Paul Gilmartin <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2023 9:59 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Double ampersand?

On Wed, 5 Jul 2023 22:06:39 +0000, Seymour J Metz  wrote:

>The use of a single ampersand is older than symbolic parameters; see, e.g., 
><http://secure-web.cisco.com/1qBo8uzgS4l-ZyFBSF7NrjJ8Snm54Zdmhco90iydydoOif2IFkArM3ROtMFsEViFS0XFr5N54fKzd-Y7E4kJL9Zx2dzbmlS45UyfYdEMGvEQQjBEtoopVsM4yDdYmnOi-Yli1NLGFsBDey5MUemHf2K7Tnd-_U_9s_7tQSPdbAE0tWuVn_pjCJaSLjOr4TQ7lKw9M0uGBzynK2NphSoUe_9qMcLHScULfGBmEVgrUKw2W4ZGNdhGuzUxvAifDdADFNejjMfnutIKzmi-PIagXRlyXXfQpu_W8m46r0NUqkurR_n0k-2xSwg8kXGi0JgG5M6jZp8yUo0vLsIF70QB4lvWH8Y1q3kCKPQyltnkOC3rzy7yQpAWM7a1R0oAKrmmGnruBcLcNOmObywCZGro_AXnjoZybMKCHpmSFIv0FQc4/http%3A%2F%2Fbitsavers.org%2Fpdf%2Fibm%2F360%2Fos%2FR01-08%2FC28-6539-4_OS_JCL_Mar67.pdf%23page%3D23>
>
In that era, did '&&amp;TEMP' represent a temporary data set, or was it a
later accommodation to avoid errors resulting from unintended substitution?

Kolusu's citation quotes Ed J. as:
    IBM does not mention the single ampersand being valid temporary
   data set name syntax ...

They do now, according to Kolusu's more recent citation.

Still, I believe IBM is making it needlessly complex.  I believe:
    If the result of symbol substitution is a single ampersand
    followed by a single qualifier it represents a temporary
    data set name.

Can anyone supply a refutation of this simple rule?

>________________________________________
>From:  Sri h Kolusu
>Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2023 5:53 PM
>
>>> Are they making a special case out of something that isn't a special case?
>
>Gil,
>
>Not really
>
>https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg80064.html

--
gil

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