&SYSM_SEV System Variable Symbol

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Use &SYSM_SEV to get the highest MNOTE severity code for the macro most recently called directly from this level.

The global-scope system variable symbol &SYSM_SEV is assigned a read-only value. The assembler assigns a value of zero when a macro is called and when a macro returns (MEND or MEXIT), the highest severity of all MNOTE assembler instructions executed in the called macro is used to update the variable.
Notes:
  1. The value of the variable symbol is supplied as three numeric characters, not as an arithmetic (binary) value.
  2. The value of the type attribute of &SYSM_SEV (T'&SYSM_SEV) is always N.
  3. The value of the count attribute (K'&SYSM_SEV) is always 3.
  4. The value of &SYSM_SEV is unreliable if any MNOTE is incorrectly coded such that a diagnostic message is generated for the MNOTE statement. The cause of the diagnostic message must be corrected.
In this example, the &SYSM_SEV variable has a value of 0 until INNER returns. The OUTER macro uses &SYSM_SEV to determine which statements to generate, and in this case issues an MNOTE to pass the severity back to the open code. 
                                      1     MACRO
                                      2     OUTER &SEV
                                      3     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 1
                                      4     MNOTE  &SEV,'OUTER - parm severity=&SEV'
                                      5     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 2
                                      6     INNER
                                      7     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 3
                                      8     AIF ('&SEV' GT '&SYSM_SEV').MN
                                      9     MNOTE  &SYSM_SEV,'OUTER - returned severity=&SYSM_SEV'
                                     10 .MN ANOP
                                     11     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 4
                                     12     MEND
                                     13     MACRO
                                     14     INNER
                                     15     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) inner 1
                                     16     MNOTE  8,'INNER'
                                     17     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) inner 2
                                     18     MEND
000000                00000 00040    19 E_G CSECT
                                     20 *,OPEN CODE    an mnote comment - sev=0
                                     21     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) open_code
000000 0000000000000000                +    DC     A(000,000)              open_code
                                     22     OUTER  4
000008 0000000000000000              23+    DC     A(000,000)              outer 1
** ASMA254I *** MNOTE ***            24+     4,OUTER - parm severity=4
000010 0000000400000000              25+    DC     A(004,000)              outer 2
000018 0000000400000000              26+    DC     A(004,000)              inner 1
** ASMA254I *** MNOTE ***            27+     8,INNER
000020 0000000800000000              28+    DC     A(008,000)              inner 2
000028 0000000800000008              29+    DC     A(008,008)              outer 3
** ASMA254I *** MNOTE ***            30+     008,OUTER - returned severity=008
000030 0000000800000008              31+    DC     A(008,008)              outer 4
                                     32 *,OPEN CODE    an mnote comment - sev=0
                                     33     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) open_code
000038 0000000800000008                +    DC     A(008,008)              open_code
                                     34     END