Using Global Variables › Global Variable Basics and OPS/REXX › Global Variable Nodes and Subnodes

Global Variable Nodes and Subnodes

The CA OPS/MVS terms of node and subnode are names that enable you to identify different portions of the name of a global variable and they can help you understand the relationships between global variables.

The best way to convey what nodes and subnodes represent, with respect to global variables, is by example. So consider the following:

Suppose you have the following global variables:

GLOBAL.A
GLOBAL.B
GLOBAL.C
GLOBAL.A.B
GLOBAL.A.B.C
GLOBAL.A.B.D

Let us start at the bottom and work up.

• GLOBAL.A.B.D is a subnode of GLOBAL.A.
• GLOBAL.A.B.D is an immediate subnode of GLOBAL.A.B.
• GLOBAL.A.B.C is an immediate subnode of GLOBAL.A.B.
• GLOBAL.B is a node that has no subnodes shown.
• All variables that begin with GLOBAL.A are subnodes of GLOBAL.A.
• All variables that begin with GLOBAL are subnodes of GLOBAL.

Note: In this example, GLOBAL.A.B is a totally different variable than GLOBAL.A. In fact, GLOBAL.A does not need to exist for GLOBAL.A.B to exist.