On 9/20/2023 8:23 AM, Farley, Peter wrote:
I believe that statement in the JCL Reference is in error and needs to be deleted or at the very least completely rewritten. My quite substantial experience using this technique over the last 10-15 years is that using JCL symbols as part of the definition of other JCL symbols works flawlessly every time. There is no unpredictability. If the symbol used to define one symbol isn’t already defined, you get the literal “&SYMB” value that you coded as part of the definition. This works for both SET and PROC and EXEC statements, without any failures or unpredictability that I have ever seen. The resulting VALUE of that symbol may cause errors, but there is no unpredictability to the symbol definition process.
Agreed 100%. We use that feature all the time for in-house JCL and also for distributed product JCL.
This seems like a golden opportunity to test the IBM Documentation Feedback process.
Give it a try and let us know if you actually get a response... -- Phoenix Software International Edward E. Jaffe 831 Parkview Drive North El Segundo, CA 90245 https://www.phoenixsoftware.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail message, including any attachments, appended messages and the information contained therein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not an intended recipient or have otherwise received this email message in error, any use, dissemination, distribution, review, storage or copying of this e-mail message and the information contained therein is strictly prohibited. If you are not an intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of this email message and do not otherwise utilize or retain this email message or any or all of the information contained therein. Although this email message and any attachments or appended messages are believed to be free of any virus or other defect that might affect any computer system into which it is received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that it is virus free and no responsibility is accepted by the sender for any loss or damage arising in any way from its opening or use. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
