ETO descriptor definition rules

Follow these rules when defining ETO descriptors.

Separate one keyword or parameter set from another with one or more blanks.
Do not include embedded blanks within a keyword and its parameters.
Separate a keyword from its parameters with an equal sign (=).
Do not abbreviate keywords.
Separate multiple parameters for single keywords with commas.
Specify at least one parameter for each keyword.
No more than 512,000 records (excluding comments) are permitted for each individual descriptor.

You can continue a keyword and its parameter set to the next statement if no intervening blanks appear at the end of the first statement or at the beginning of the parameters of the next statement. A continued statement still has the same descriptor type and name in columns 1-10; the continued specification begins in column 12. If you specify keywords, they must be accompanied by parameters. Keywords followed by blanks or commas are invalid.

Parentheses are optional if they follow a keyword that supports multiple parameters and only if the first parameter is specified. Otherwise, they are required.

If the keyword has positional parameters, you can use commas when parameters are specified after a missing positional parameter. Following is an example of valid use:

LTERMA=(ABC,,1)

This example is valid because LTERMA has positional parameters.

The following example is invalid:

LTERMB=(ABC,,1,)
OPTIONS=(TRANSRESP,)
OPTIONS=(,SYSINFO)

The LTERMB example is invalid because the comma must be followed by a parameter. The OPTIONS examples are invalid because the parameters for the OPTIONS keyword are not positional.