IBM MAINFRAMES

Job control Language(JCL) - 01

 Introduction on JCL

▪ JCL is used to compile and execute batch programs.

▪ To write any JCL we require

1. JOB Statement.
2. EXEC Statement.
3. DD Statement.
4. Null Statement.

JOB : Execution of one or more programs is knows as a job

 JCL Statement’s

▪ JOB STATEMENT: JOB statement is used to identify the JOB Name

and JOB’s related parameters (accounting info, username, class, notify
etc).
▪ Syntax:
▪ //JOBNAME JOB ACCTINFO,USERNAME,CLASS,NOTIFY..
▪ Accounting Information: Is mainly used for billing purpose.
▪ User name: Is used to identify who has written the JCL.
▪ Class: Is used to provide resource constraint to the job.
▪ Notify: Is used to decided to which USER-ID the JOB has to be notify
after successful or unsuccessful compilation
 JCL Statement’s contd..

▪ EXEC Statement: This statement is used to identify the step name and
program name. A maximum we can write 255 statements in a single
JOB.
▪ Syntax:
▪ //STEP1 EXEC PGM=PROG NAME

▪ DD statement: Is used to specify the input and output location required

for a program execution/compilation.
▪ Syntax:
▪ //DDNAME DD PARAMETERS
 Job CARD statement in Detail

//JOBNAME JOB ACCOUNTING-INFORMATION,

// PROGRAMMER-NAME,
// CLASS=JOB-CLASS,
// PRTY=PRIORITY-NUMBER,
// MSGCLASS=MESSAGE-CLASS,
// MSGLEVEL=(STATEMENTS,MESSAGES),
// REGION-SIZE(KB/MB),
// COND=(RC,OPERATOR),
// RESTART=STEPNAME,
// TIME=(MM.SS),
// TYPRUN=(HOLD/SCAN),
// NOTIFY=&SYSUID
 JCL Parameter

▪ There are two kinds of parameters in the operand field :-

POSITIONAL and KEYWORD parameters.
▪ The operating system recognizes positional parameters by their
position in the operand field.
▪ Ex : Accounting Information and Programmer Name
▪ Keyword parameters can be coded in any order, defined by a
JCL reserved name.
▪ Ex: TIME,CLASS,NOTIFY..etc.
▪ Positional parameters must be coded in a specific order before
any keyword parameter.
 Positional Parameter

▪ Accounting Information Positional Parameter is used to supply any

type of accounting information which may
be required by a particular installation.
▪ The entire Accounting Information Parameter may contain as
many as 142 characters.
▪ If Sub-parameters are used in the Accounting Information
Parameters, they must be separated by commas and enclosed
within parentheses.
▪ Programmer Name: Identifies the individual or group responsible for
the job. The Programmer Name positional parameter
may be from 1 to 20 characters long, including any special characters.
 Positional Parameter Example

Assuming that your installation requires 4

subparameters --
account number, billing date, billing code, and
billing location---

//Jobname JOB (400-234-15678,’05/30’,4B16,

// ‘ST. LOUIS, MO.’),’SAHA’,…
 Key Word Parameters

Class : These tell about how much time each jobs should run.
 Class are divided into executions of certain types from A to z
category .
Depending on installation the grades was given for each class type.
  A - 10 min’s the job has to complete
B - 30 min’s
C - 1 hour … O 24 hours…
  Why we need so many class because
1)      Generating Reports for one year( it may took 14 hours to
generates reports normally speaking reports will took much time.
We have to give class ‘O’ for this job)
2)      Doing updation /deletion /addtion of records( it may took 1
hour we have to give class ‘C’)
3)      Doing some calculation ( it may took 3 to 4 min’s ‘ A ‘)
 Key Word Parameters

Based on the work the job is going to do according to that

we have to provide the class for each job. This
 
PRTY: Three jobs was submitted at a time to the system so
which job should submit first. To avoid the confusion the
priority will help the system.

PRTY range will start from (1 to 15) again it will depend on

the installation.
 Key Word Parameters

MSGLEVEL: This parameter tells OS which messages you

want to printed. The format of the parameter.
 
MSGLEVEL = (Statement , messages)
 
Statement : Refer to your coded JCL statement.
Messages : To the system output messages generated by OS

Use of MSGLEVEL: If you want to avoid some of the

statements and messages which was generated by OS we can do
by using MSGLEVEL.
 
What will be happening if you omit the MSGLEVEL, the
installation default will apply.
 Key Word Parameters

STATEMENTS
0 = Print only the job statement
1 = print all JCL statements including statements from cataloged
procedures
2 = Print only the input JCL
MESSAGES
0 = Print system messages only if the job abnormally terminates
1        = Print all system messages every time.
For e.g

MSGLEVEL(1,1) I want to see all the messages

and statements which was generated by OS.
MSGLEVEL = 0 I don’t want to see any messages and
statements.
 Key Word Parameters

MSGCLASS : The message class parameter is associated

with an output writer that in turn, is associated with a specific
output device. This enables you to route the system messages
to a specific printer or other output device.
 

As your job is executing it also provide you information if the

system abnormally terminated and other information that will
help you to analyze the results and also

OS puts out so many system messages.

Where this system messages should write/ dump. 
The MSGCLASS will help the system where it has to
write/dump and also It tells you whether a file was kept or
deleted after a job step was finished.
 Key Word Parameters

▪ Suppose we have submitted a job having 10 steps and after

executing step5 ,step6 got abend and when we submit for next
time after resolving the step6, but we need to start the job from
step6 but not from step1
▪ RESTART parameter is one of most important parameter that
used in real time
▪ Using this parameter we can start a job from a particular step
▪ Syntax
▪ RESTART = STEPNAME
 Key Word Parameters

TYPRUN=SCAN/HOLD
▪ The TYPRUN parameter allows the operating system
to:
▪ SCAN the JCL for errors. Once the scan is
completed, a JCL listing, containing any errors
found, will be printed. The Job will not be
executed.HOLD – the job is submitted into the
system but will not be executed. The job will
stay in HOLD status until the TYPRUN
parameter is deleted.
 Key Word Parameters

// COND=(RC.OPERATOR,STEPNAME),
▪ This parameter is used to either to bypass a particular step or to
execute a particular step.
▪ The Return Code(RC) is a number from 0 through 4095
which is compared to the return code or completion code
issued by a program.
▪ The OPERATOR specifies the type of comparison to be
made: i.e., GT,LT,GE,LE,NE & EQ.
▪ The STEPNAME refers to a particular step to which the RC is
compared.
 Key Word Parameters

▪ If the COND is true them the particular step is bypassed and executes when
failed.
▪ We got Two other options here: EVEN and ONLY
▪ EVEN – Specifies that the job step is to be executed if any preceding step
abended and no other RC tests mentioned here are satisfied:
▪ If a RC test is specified here and it’s true, this step is bypassed..
▪ ONLY – Execute this step only if a previous step abended and no RC tests
specified here are satisfied.
▪ COND=ONLY/EVEN

▪ Note: If you don’t code Even or Only, then a previous step that
abends will cause all subsequent steps not to be performed.
 Key Word Parameters

REGION: The maximum amount of main storage allocated

to your program.
 
To execute are run a program we have provide some space
for his job the region will tell to the system how much
memory that the job required.
 
Syntax
REGION = N kb/MB

Maximum region value is 0MB

 Key Word Parameters

TIME=(MM,SS)
▪ The TIME parameter specifies the total amount of CPU time
the job will be allowed to run.
▪ The TIME parameter has 2 subparameters - one
which indicates the number of minutes and one which
indicates the number of seconds the job will be allowed
to run.
▪ We can specify maximum by coding
▪ TIME=NOLIMIT/ MAXIMUM/1440
 The EXEC Statement

EXEC : The EXEC statement as it is used to cause the execution

of one program or a procedure.
 
Its recommend that all your JobSteps have meaningful step
names.
 
//STEPNAME EXEC PGM = SAMPLE, PARM =VALUE,
// TIME=(0,0),COND=(RC,OPER),REGION=RSIZE K/M

Most of the system messages you will receive will refer to the
step name. If you give blank step name it will thru blank only.
 
PGM : Exec statement identifies the program to be executed in
each step.
 PARM Parameter

▪ It is used to access the data that are external to the program.

▪ JCL can send maximum 100 characters to a program thru
PARM.
▪ Linkage section MUST be coded with a half word binary
field, prior to actual field. If length field is not coded, the first
two bytes of the field coded in the linkage section will be filled
with length and so there are chances of 2 bytes data truncation
in the actual field.
01 LK-DATA.
05 LK-LENGTH PIC S9(04) COMP.
05 LK-VARIABLE PIC X(08).
Thank You