Examples of defining and coding symbols in JCL

Example 1:

//JOBA     JOB  ...
//INSTREAM PROC LOC=POK
//PSTEP    EXEC PGM=WRITER
//DSA      DD   SYSOUT=A,DEST=&LOC
//         PEND
//CALLER   EXEC PROC=INSTREAM,LOC=NYC
//

In this example of an in-stream procedure, the &LOC symbol has a default value of POK on the PROC statement; then it is assigned an execution value of NYC on the calling EXEC statement.

Example 2:

//JOBB      JOB  ...
//INSTREAM  PROC LOC=POK,NUMBER=3390
//PSTEP     EXEC ...
//PIN       DD   DSNAME=REPORT,DISP=(OLD,KEEP),UNIT=&NUMBER
//POUT      DD   SYSOUT=A,DEST=&LOC
//          PEND
//CALLER    EXEC PROC=INSTREAM,NUMBER=,LOC=STL
//PSTEP.INDATA  DD   *
               .
               (data)
               .
/*

This code nullifies the &NUMBER JCL symbol. The calling EXEC statement assignment of STL for the &LOC symbol overrides the PROC statement assignment of POK.

Example 3: This example illustrates execution of an in-stream procedure to test symbols before placing the procedure in a procedure library. The in-stream procedure named TESTPROC is:

//TESTPROC PROC A=IMB406,B=ABLE,C=3390,D=WXYZ1,
//           E=OLD,F=TRK,G='10,10,1'
//STEP     EXEC PGM=&A
//DD1      DD   DSNAME=&B,UNIT=&C,VOLUME=SER=&D,DISP=&E,
//           SPACE=(&F,(&G))
//         PEND

To run this in-stream procedure and override &A with IEFBR14, &B with BAKER, and &E with (NEW, KEEP) but leave the other parameters the same, call the in-stream procedure with:

//CALLER1 EXEC PROC=TESTPROC,A=IEFBR14,B=BAKER,E=(NEW,KEEP)

The value (NEW,KEEP) does not require apostrophes because it contains a matched pair of parentheses. For more information, see Table 3.

After symbolic substitution, the statements are:

//STEP  EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
//DD1   DD   DSNAME=BAKER,UNIT=3390,VOLUME=SER=WXYZ1,
//          DISP=(NEW,KEEP),SPACE=(TRK,(10,10,1))

Example 4: To run the in-stream procedure in the previous example and change DD1 to resemble a temporary scratch space, code the following statement:

//CALLER2 EXEC PROC=TESTPROC,A=IEFBR14,B=,C=3390,D=,E=

After symbolic substitution, the statements are:

//STEP  EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
//DD1   DD DSNAME=,UNIT=3390,VOLUME=SER=,DISP=,SPACE=(TRK,(10,10,1))

Example: 5 Symbol values can be set to values previously set to other symbols.

//        SET SYM1=VALUE1            
//        SET SYM2=&SYM1             
//        SET TARGET=&SYM2           
//STEP1   EXEC PGM=WTO,PARM=&TARGET

In this example, the value of TARGET resolves to a value of VALUE1.

Example 6: In this example, blanks are maintained in symbol values that are coded with apostrophes. This example illustrates where exported symbols SYM1 and SYM2 contain blanks:

//         EXPORT SYMLIST=(*)                             
//         SET  SYM1='A '                                 
//         SET  SYM2='1234 '                              
//         SET  SYM3='WXYZ'                               
//STEP2    EXEC PGM=IEBGENER                              
//SYSIN    DD DUMMY                                       
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*                                    
//SYSUT1   DD  *,SYMBOLS=JCLONLY                          
SYMBOL VALUES=&SYM1&SYM2&SYM3                             
/*                                                        
//SYSUT2   DD SYSOUT=*

In this example, the resolved symbols that are displayed in SYSUT2 are:

SYMBOL VALUES=A 1234 WXYZ