PL/I language statements

PL/I statements are entered as z/OS® Debugger commands. z/OS Debugger makes it possible to issue commands in a manner similar to each language.

The following types of z/OS Debugger commands will support the syntax of the PL/I statements:
Expression
This command evaluates an expression.
Block
BEGIN⁄END, DO⁄END, PROCEDURE⁄END

These commands provide a means of grouping any number of z/OS Debugger commands into "one" command.

Conditional
IF⁄THEN, SELECT⁄WHEN⁄END

These commands evaluate an expression and control the flow of execution of z/OS Debugger commands according to the resulting value.

Declaration
DECLARE or DCL

These commands provide a means for declaring session variables.

Looping
DO⁄WHILE⁄UNTIL⁄END

These commands provide a means to program an iterative or conditional loop as a z/OS Debugger command.

Transfer of Control
GOTO, ON

These commands provide a means to unconditionally alter the flow of execution of a group of commands.

The table below shows the commands that are new or changed for this release of z/OS Debugger when the current programming language is PL/I.

Command Description or changes
ANALYZE Displays the PL/I style of evaluating an expression, and the precision and scale of the final and intermediate results. z/OS Debugger does not support this command for Enterprise PL/I programs.
ON Performs as the AT OCCURRENCE command except it takes PL/I conditions as operands.
BEGIN BEGIN/END blocks of logic.
DECLARE Session variables can now include COMPLEX (CPLX), POINTER, BIT, BASED, ALIGNED, UNALIGNED, etc. Arrays can be declared to have upper and lower bounds. Variables can have precisions and scales. You cannot declare arrays and structures when you debug Enterprise PL/I programs.
DO The three forms of DO are added; one is an extension of C's do.
  1. DO; command(s); END;
  2. DO WHILE | UNTIL expression; command(s); END;
  3. DO reference=specifications; command(s); END;
IF The IF ⁄ ELSE does not require the ENDIF.
SELECT The SELECT ⁄ WHEN ⁄ OTHERWISE ⁄ END programming structure is added.