The RP macro is optional. Each RP macro generates one entry in a help member's reference phrase array. Within a help member, group all RP macros together, following the HDR macro.

The syntax of the RP macro is as follows:

 [label]  RP       PHRASE='xxxxxx'[,HELP={name|abc*  }]

label

Specifies the label name that the system generates in the first instruction of the macro expansion.

PHRASE

Specifies a reference phrase, which is a word or phrase that has additional help information associated with it. A reference phrase appears within a single help text line, and can be up to 32 characters long.

You must enclose the reference phrase in apostrophes. You can use the RPDLM parameter of the HDR macro to specify different reference phrase delimiters.

HELP

Specifies the name of the help member that describes the reference phrase. Each reference phrase needs its own help member.

name

The name can be up to 7 alphanumeric characters long.

abc*

You may specify a generic name to display all reference help members that have names beginning with the same specified characters together as one entry. You may specify as many as 6 common characters. For example, if you specify “abc*,” you group all help members that have names beginning with three characters “abc.” In this example, the “*” represents as many as four unique characters at the end of each help member name.

Note:

If you specify a generic name to group help members, all members in that group must have the same width.

If you omit the HELP parameter, the RP macro generates a special name. When someone requests help for the phrase, its special name creates a temporary combined reference, appending all other listed reference help members.

Figure 6 shows an example RP macro. For this RP macro, its PHRASE parameter specifies “MVS” as a reference phrase, and its parameter specifies “CBDEDXX” as the help member that describes the “MVS” reference phrase.