CA-GSS Statements and Commands › GSS Extended Functions › IO Functions › Number, String, and Variable Functions › System Information Functions › Notation Conventions

Notation Conventions

Positional Operands

The operands for the extended functions have reserved positions. If you omit an optional operand, indicate its position with a comma.

Literal Strings

The shown values in capital letters are literal strings. When you code a literal string in REXX, always enclose it in single (') or double quotation marks ("). REXX always assumes an "unquoted" literal string to be a variable name and performs a substitution.

Note: If no variable of that name has been used, the uninitialized value of the variable is its name.

Example

The syntax for the EXAMPLE() function:

EXAMPLE({OPEN},handle[,{F|FB}[,lrecl][,blksize])
     {CLOSE}
     {START}
     {STOP}

If you omit the F | FB and lrecl operands, but include blksize, you could enter the function in the following way:

EXAMPLE('OPEN',myhandle,,,3120)

Notice that OPEN, a literal string, is enclosed in single quotes, while myhandle, a variable, is not. The numeric value, 3120, although technically a literal, is not a valid REXX name and there is no ambiguity in omitting the quotes.