Gerhard is right in the sense that the asterisks-and-dots DSNAME could sometimes be shorter. There were, however, circumstances in which multiple-asterisk prefixes, infixes, and suffixes did occur.
I suspect that his homegrown utility scratched instances of such datasets rapidly enough to make the appearance of their more baroque forms unlikely in his environment(s). In more cluttered ones they became ever more baroque in pursuit of uniqueness. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
