IBM Mainframe Forum

Can you use part of a symbolic in JCL?

I need use just part of a symbolic passed to me in a file name. Is this possible?

SET FILE=ABCD.JOBID.TEST.FILE

THE JOBID IS THE ONLY THING THAT CHANGES FROM JOB TO JOB BUT I NEED TO ADD IT TO MY OUT FILE NAME FOR RESEARCH ISSUES.

SET JOBID=&FILE(5:5)

THIS IS WHAT I NEED SO I CAN ADD THE JOBID TO EACH OUT FILE. THE FILE IS BEING PASSED BY NDM AND THEY CAN SEEM TO FIND A WAY TO PASS ME THE FILE NAME AND PARSE OUT THE JOB NAME AND PASS IT TO USING FILE AGENT.

JCL is not a programming language and you cannot do what you are wanting in a job stream. You could pass the file name as a parameter to a program, have the program extract the part of the file name you want, and submit a second job to the internal reader that contains that value.

i have a program that will write out the part of the dataset that i need but how will i get the value to step that will submut the second job?

Hello,

how will i get the value to step that will submut the second job?

B whatecer means you choose to "find" the value and pass it along. . .

It is completely a waste of time to post the same question over and over changing the wording. . .

Get the value(s) from whatever the input (parm, file, etc). Generate a new job to submit with the values placed appropriately in the job that is to be submitted. Submit the new job.