Message format

Use the z/OS® UNIX dspcat command to display the message text from a message catalog. The messages are in the following format:

index_num "message text"

The index_num value is the identifier that the application uses to access the message text.

The message text value might include conversion characters for the variable fields that are converted when the message is printed or displayed and control characters that affect the message format. The conversion characters start with a percent sign (%) and the control characters start with a backslash (\). These are all standard notations for the C language print function. The messages might also contain comments, which start with /* and end with */.

In the following simulated message, the control character \n forces a new line to print. The string variables %1$s, %2$s, and %3$s are converted in the order that they are passed from the application.

1 "EZZ2350I MVS TCP/IP NETSTAT %1$s       TCPIP Name: %2$s        %3$s\n"