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Catalog File Scan

Complex data set naming conventions can also be detected by using the Catalog File Scan display. For example, a data center might name its IMS databases like this:

IMS.functional‑area.fiscal‑year.test.production‑ID

If you want to find all the test databases, ask for IMS.‑.TEST.‑. Then you would see databases like these:

IMS.ACCTING.YR2003.TEST.PAYABLES
IMS.PAYROLL.YR2003.TEST.CARDS
IMS.PERSONL.YR2003.TEST.PEOPLE

You can limit your selection further by asking for password‑protected and unprotected data sets. Or you can ask for only those files that were created, accessed, or expired in a particular range of dates.

You need no special access permissions to find data sets with the Catalog File Scan display. The name, location, and statistics display for each data set selected. The contents of the data set are not displayed, so access is not necessary.

If you want to know more about the way catalogs work, see the description of z/OS system catalogs in the “System Installation Choices” chapter.

One of the problems that you can encounter while performing a review is locating various cataloged user and production data sets on the system. Suppose, for example, that you want to find all the cataloged JCL data sets for a TSO user. By convention, these data sets have names that end in CNTL. You can use the TSO LISTCAT command to list data sets whose names start with userid or userid.JOBS, for example, but you cannot list data sets that start with userid and end with CNTL.

The Catalog File Scan option (6.2) locates these data sets when you use a simple masking scheme. You can abbreviate parts of the data set name. An asterisk (*) represents any single character, and a dash (‑) indicates any string of characters. For example, to find the data sets whose names start with userid and end with CNTL, you ask for userid.‑.CNTL.