IBM Mainframe Forum

Could you please any one help me.....
How can u give input files in the jcl.

Please help US out here -- what do you mean by "input file"?

In general -- any file can be referenced in JCL by including a DD name with the appropriate parameters (minimum recommended parameters: DSN and DISP for cataloged data sets).

As Mr. Sample indicated the initial question is unclear.

First, the term "file" has a different meaning in IBM mainframes than in other platforms. You should use the term "dataset" rather than "file," unless you really mean "file" as it is used with IBM mainframes, though the precise meaning of a dataset in IBM mainframes is slightly different than a "file" in other platforms.

Second, do you mean

• Can I provide input data in the JCL that defines a job?, or
• How do I specify input data in JCL?

dataset

the meaning depends on how old You are and how long You have been working in IT
on a very once upon a time dataset was synonym for modem
whence the acronym DSR ( DataSet READY )
and it was commonly used in telecommunication jargon
since I am old and worked in IT for a long time ...

one of my peeves is that the acronym USS has changed meaning from ...
Unformatted System Services
To ...
Unix steenkin sloppiness

Hello,

How can u give input files in the jcl.

If you post an explanation of what you are trying to accomplish, someone may have a suggestion as to how . . .

enrico-sorichetti wrote:

dataset

the meaning depends on how old You are and how long You have been working in IT
on a very once upon a time dataset was synonym for modem
whence the acronym DSR ( DataSet READY )
and it was commonly used in telecommunication jargon
since I am old and worked in IT for a long time ...

one of my peeves is that the acronym USS has changed meaning from ...
Unformatted System Services
To ...
Unix steenkin sloppiness

DSR is Data Set Ready (Note it's not the same as the mainframe's Dataset which means a file)
DCE is Data Communication Equipment
DTE is Data Terminal Ready

the above are all related related to data communication area & modems terminology

Or maybe DTR for data terminal ready . . .

d

Actually, I was told by IBM that a detaset is NOT the same as a file - a file is pure data whereas a dataset is data + control information eg RDWs for VB files, inter-block gaps, start of block markers etc.

NicC wrote:Actually, I was told by IBM that a detaset is NOT the same as a file - a file is pure data whereas a dataset is data + control information eg RDWs for VB files, inter-block gaps, start of block markers etc.

I've never seen that definition in print, but ... I think issues like inter-block gaps and start of block markers are present in other systems, but they are hidden by by the system, where us mainframe types are exposed to them. I regard a "file" as nothing more than a stream of bits, where a dataset has something more, though a RECFM F data set is represented as a stream of bytes, but divided into fixed length groups called "records."

This discussion brought a nasty problem with 2314s to my memory. They had something called an "address marker" in the gap between the end of a record and the count area for the next record. The hardware detected this "address marker." If it wasn't there - all too common - you got an I/O error and that track was pretty much done for, though you could usually format write over the track.

We've gone far afield from the original request from Thursday, though mylavarapuvinay never did clarify his request so we could actually answer him. Well, maybe later today!