Command syntax

You can write DFSMSdss commands in free form in columns 2 through 72 (inclusive). Any character in column 1 or beyond column 72 is ignored, causing unpredictable results when the task is processed. Syntax requirements are:

Commands:

A command must appear first, followed by its keywords. Each command must take up only one line, unless a continuation character is used to indicate continuation of the command on the next line. A command is separated from its keywords by one or more blanks, a comment, or both. For example:

DUMP FULL INDD(DASD1) OUTDD(TAPE1)
    or
DUMP FULL INDD(DASD1)  –
               OUTDD(TAPE1)

Comments:

A comment is a string of characters that begins with a ⁄* and ends with an *⁄. For example:

⁄*THIS IS A COMMENT *⁄

A comment that does not begin and end on the same line must contain a continuation character, or syntax errors will result. For example:

⁄* THIS IS A MULTI –
   LINE COMMENT *⁄

Separators:

A separator can be a comma (,), one or more blanks, or a comment. Separators shown in the syntax diagrams in this manual are always commas, but any of the three types can be used.

Keywords:

Keywords are parameters separated by one or more separators.

Subkeywords:

Subkeywords follow their associated keyword and are separated from them by a pair of enclosing parentheses. One or more blanks can precede and follow each parenthesis in the pair. For example:

REBLOCK( DATASET1 )
    or
REBLOCK(DATASET1)

If two or more subkeywords are permissible for a single keyword, they are separated from one another by one or more blanks or by commas. Each comma can be preceded and followed by one or more blanks. For example:

REBLOCK(DATASET1 , DATASET2)
    or
REBLOCK(DATASET1,DATASET2)
    or
REBLOCK(DATASET1 DATASET2)

Continuation:

Continuation of a command is specified by a hyphen (-) as the right-most nonblank character, preceded by one or more blanks. If a continuation character is used, the following line is read as if it were part of the previous line. Since only one command is allowed per line, no additional commands may be included on the continued line. If no continuation character is used, the first word on the following line must be a command. For example:

COPY DATASET (INCLUDE(DATASET1)) ALLDATA(*) -
     CATALOG REBLOCK(DATASET1)

For examples of the continuation usage, see Continuation rules for IF-THEN-ELSE command sequencing, using the IF-THEN-ELSE command sequence.

The absence of such a hyphen indicates the end of the command. If a keyword or subkeyword cannot fit on the remainder of a line, it can be started on that line, followed immediately by a plus sign (+) in column 72, and continued on the next line.

End of a command:

The end of a command can be specified by a semicolon (;). Everything to the right of the semicolon is ignored.