Why does "double ampersand" sound like an old-timey insult? "You no-good, double-ampersand, horswogglin'..."
On Thu, Jul 6, 2023 at 10:19 AM Tom Marchant < 0000000a2a8c2020-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > By OS/360 release 19 (1970) && was the documented way to specify a > temporary data set. See page 168 of > > http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/360/os/R19_Jun70/GC28-6704-0_JCL_Reference_Rel_19_Jun70.pdf > > <quote> > If you do include the DSNAME parameter, the temporary data set name > can consist of 1 through 8 characters and is preceded by two ampersands > (&&). The character following the ampersands must be an alphabetic or > national (~r#,$) character: the remaining characters can be any > alphameric or national characters. (A temporary data set name that is > preceded by only one ampersand is treated as a temporary data set name > as long as no value is assigned to it either on the EXEC statement for > this job step when it calls a procedure, or on a PROC statement within > the procedure. If a value is assigned to it by one of these means, it > is treated as a symbolic parameter. > </quote> > > There is no change bar on that paragraph, so it was likely introduced with > an earlier release. I don't have access to an earlier JCL manual, other > than the one from 1967 that Shmuel referenced. > > -- > Tom Marchant > > > On Thu, 6 Jul 2023 02:15:28 +0000, Seymour J Metz <sme...@gmu.edu> wrote: > > >In that era, double ampersand was invalid. When IBM added symbolic > parameters, they added double ampersand as an escape for a single > ampersand. I don't know whether they were thinking about temporary DSNs > when they came up with the rule. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > -- zMan -- "I've got a mainframe and I'm not afraid to use it" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
