Configuring the Parameter Library (Parmlib) › Parmlib Syntax

Parmlib Syntax

Each of the sample Parmlib members contains comments that document the member structure, how to customize that member, the member attributes, and valid attribute values.

In general, Parmlib members consist of the following:

Blank lines

Use blank lines for legibility. The program ignores blank lines.

;Comments

Comments always begin with a semicolon. Comments can start in any column. These statements are used for documentation, and readability. The program ignores comments.

<SectionNames>

Section names are always enclosed with greater than and less than signs ('<' and '>'). Sections are used to identify a common set of related Parmlib attributes. The order of sections within a Parmlib member is not important. Sections cannot be embedded or nested. Each new <SectionName> marks the end of the prior section.

Attribute=Values

The left side of the equal sign denotes the name of a particular attribute while the right side denotes its assigned value or values.

Observe the following:

• Entries are not case-sensitive.
• No line continuation character exists.
• Attribute=value pairs must be coded together on a single line between columns 1 and 72.
• Descriptive attribute names are used to associate and assign data values to the Parmlib parameters.
• Values containing blanks or other special characters must be enclosed within single (') or double (“) quotation marks. For example, in member OSGROUP, to define the value. Production Files to the Description attribute, you will code ‘Production Files'.
• Attributes must be coded in their assigned section.
• You can concatenate multiple Parmlib data sets. The program uses the first member in the concatenated data sets that contains the searched section name to load the corresponding attribute values.