Syntax rules for IEASYMxx

The following syntax rules apply to IEASYMxx:

Use columns 1 through 71. Do not use columns 72 - 80 for data; these columns are ignored.
Blank lines are permitted.
Delimiters are not required; the end of a physical record is considered to be a valid delimiter. However, you may optionally place a delimiter (space or comma) between a statement and a parameter.
Multiple occurrences of a delimiter are accepted but treated as one.
Comments may appear in columns 1-71 and must begin with "/*" and end with "*/".
A statement can be continued even though there is no explicit continuation character.
Do not use nested comments in this parmlib member.
A statement type consists of 1-10 characters.
A statement type must be the first data item on a record.
A statement must begin with a valid statement type followed by at least one blank.
Each parameter must consist of 1-10 characters (parameters cannot span more than one record).
A logical record (a record that has the statement type and comments removed) cannot exceed 4 kilobytes (which is 56 - 72 character physical records). The count of characters in the logical record is after symbols have been resolved. A blank is used to separate parameter statements in the logical record. The count of blanks is included in the logical record length.
You can use substrings of previously defined system symbols in definitions for other system symbols. See Step 1. Know the rules for using system symbols in parmlib for more information about substringing system symbols.

IEASYMxx supports specifications that span lines (such as putting SYSDEF on one line and SYMDEF (or SYMD) on the next. The rules for multiple lines are as follows:

For a given line, characters after the last non-blank non-comma are removed.
For a given line, characters before the first non-blank non-comma are removed.
A blank character is added between a line (to which the previous rules have been applied) and the next line (to which the previous rules have been applied).