Syntax Rules

Control File Maintenance Utility › Control File Statements › Syntax Rules

Syntax Rules

The following section explains the syntax rules.

Any line which starts with an asterisk (*) in column 1 is treated as a comment line.
A statement consists of the statement name followed by one or more parameters. For example:
```
ADD DSNAME=MY.DATA.SET,DATA=MY.DATA.SET.D,SUPEREXP
```
Parameter names can be abbreviated to just enough characters to make them unambiguous, but not fewer than 3.
Parameters can be specified in any order. The first parameter must appear on the same line as the statement name.
A statement can span more than one line.
A parameter cannot span more than one line unless the statement is continued through Statement Continuation Method B below.
A blank following a parameter terminates a statement. Characters following the blank are treated as comments.
Statement Continuation Method A: If a parameter is followed immediately by a comma and a space, then the statement is continued onto the next line. Characters following the space are considered comments. The parameters appearing on the next line can start in any column. With this continuation method, each parameter must be completed on a single line.
Statement Continuation Method B: If the statement is coded through column 71, and an X is coded in column 72, then the statement is continued onto the next line. The first nonblank in the next line is appended to the character in column 71 in order to form the continued statement. With this continuation method, the line can be split anywhere. In the example below, the RELEASE=80 parameter is continued onto the next line:
```
----+----1----+----2----+ ..//.. +----7----+----8
    ADD DSNAME=MY.DATA.SE        DE,RELEX
         ASE=80
```
The following special characters can be used in data set names:
- An asterisk (*) means any characters in a single node.
- A question mark (?) means any one character.
- A slash (/) means any suffix of characters.
- An exclamation point (!) means any characters.
  The following table provides examples on how you can use special characters in data set names:

Syntax	Description
DSN=*	Selects all single-level VSAM data set names.
DSN=.	Selects all two-level VSAM data set names.
DSN=A.*.PROD	Selects all three-level VSAM data set names that have an A as the first node, any character or characters as the second node, and PROD as the third node.
DSN=A*.PROD	Selects all two-level VSAM data set names that have an A followed by zero to seven other characters as the first node, and PROD as the second node.
DSN=?	Selects all single-character VSAM data set names.
DSN=A.TEST??	Selects all two-level VSAM data set names that have an A as the first node, and TEST plus two other characters as the second node.
DSN=A/	Selects all VSAM data sets that begin with the character A. The data set names can have any number of nodes. The first node can be the letter A, or be a string which starts with A.
DSN=A.TEST/	Selects all VSAM data sets that begin with the string A.TEST. Examples:
	A.TEST A.TEST1 A.TEST1.TEST2 A.TEST.PROD
DSN=A.*.C?./	Selects all VSAM data sets which have a first node of A, any second node, a third node which is two characters in length and the first character is the letter C, and any node or nodes which follow.
DSN=!TEST	Selects all VSAM data sets that end with the string TEST.
DSN=!TEST!	Selects all VSAM data sets that have the string TEST somewhere in it. The string TEST can be at the beginning or the end of the data set name.
DSN= !TEST!VSAM	Selects all VSAM data sets, which have the string TEST somewhere in the name and VSAM at the end. Examples:
	A.TEST.VSAM A.TESTVSAM A.TEST1.VSAM A.TEST1.KSDSVSAM