The text for OPTCD=Q doesn't mention it, but it appears my guess was right:
Specifies the coded character set identifier indicating the character code conversion performed on reads from and writes to tapes accessed in ISO/ANSI Version 4 format. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Paul Gilmartin <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 6:08 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Can I tag a file in JCL? External Message: Use Caution On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:38:28 +0000, Seymour J Metz> wrote: >Sorry, I meant to write tape *SAM I/O. > You wrote "Maybe", indicating uncertainty. Can any reader clarify, citing documentation. OMNS certainly provides (limited?) CCSID conversion, Why should this depend on device type? We can lament the demise of OS/360 paradigm of I/O abstraction. > >________________________________________ >From: Paul Gilmartin <[email protected]> >Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 5:13 PM > >On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:16:23 +0000, Seymour J Metz wrote: > >>Maybe it's only used to control translation during *SAM I/O. >> ... >*SAM IO is OMVS file savvy, so that should be no restriction. > >Looking for documentation (my bad habit) I found: ><https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/3.2.0?topic=tapes-ccsid-decision-tables> >AYFK!? >I infer that over a half-century ago, a designer made a >dreadful decision, and users have been cursed with >needless complexity ever since/ > >>________________________________________ >>On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:54:43 +0000, Colin Paice > >>> >I have >>>//STDERR DD PATH='&PATH/stderr.D&YYMMDD..T&HHMMSS', >>>// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC), >>>// PATHMODE=SIRWXU -- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
