Using SETC symbols

The character value assigned to a SETC symbol is substituted for the SETC symbol when it is used in the name, operation, or operand field of a statement.

For example, consider the following macro definition, macro instruction, and generated statements:

          MACRO
 &NAME    MOVE            &TO,&FROM
          LCLC            &PREFIX
 &PREFIX  SETC            'FIELD'             Statement 1
 &NAME    ST              2,SAVEAREA
          L               2,&PREFIX&FROM      Statement 2
          ST              2,&PREFIX&TO        Statement 3
          L               2,SAVEAREA
          MEND
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 HERE     MOVE            A,B
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
+HERE ST             2,SAVEAREA
+     L              2,FIELDB
+     ST             2,FIELDA
+     L              2,SAVEAREA

Statement 1 assigns the character value FIELD to the SETC symbol &PREFIX. In statements 2 and 3, &PREFIX is replaced by FIELD.

The following example shows how the value assigned to a SETC symbol can be changed in a macro definition.

          MACRO
 &NAME    MOVE            &TO,&FROM
          LCLC            &PREFIX
 &PREFIX  SETC            'FIELD'             Statement 1
 &NAME    ST              2,SAVEAREA
          L               2,&PREFIX&FROM      Statement 2
 &PREFIX  SETC            'AREA'              Statement 3
          ST              2,&PREFIX&TO        Statement 4
          L               2,SAVEAREA
          MEND
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 HERE     MOVE            A,B
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
+HERE ST             2,SAVEAREA
+     L              2,FIELDB
+     ST             2,AREAA
+     L              2,SAVEAREA

Statement 1 assigns the character value FIELD to the SETC symbol &PREFIX. Therefore, &PREFIX is replaced by FIELD in statement 2. Statement 3 assigns the character value AREA to &PREFIX. Therefore, &PREFIX is replaced by AREA, instead of FIELD, in statement 4.

The following example uses the substring notation in the operand field of a SETC instruction.

          MACRO
 &NAME    MOVE            &TO,&FROM
          LCLC            &PREFIX
 &PREFIX  SETC            '&TO'(1,5)          Statement 1
 &NAME    ST              2,SAVEAREA
          L               2,&PREFIX&FROM      Statement 2
          ST              2,&TO
          L               2,SAVEAREA
          MEND
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 HERE     MOVE            FIELDA,B
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
+HERE ST             2,SAVEAREA
+     L              2,FIELDB
+     ST             2,FIELDA
+     L              2,SAVEAREA

Statement 1 assigns the substring character value FIELD (the first five characters corresponding to symbolic parameter &TO to the SETC symbol &PREFIX. Therefore, FIELD replaces &PREFIX in statement 2.

Notes:

If the COMPAT(SYSLIST) assembler option is not specified, you can pass a sublist into a macro definition by assigning the sublist to a SETC symbol, and then specifying the SETC symbol as an operand in a macro instruction. However, if the COMPAT(SYSLIST) assembler option is specified, sublists assigned to SETC symbols are treated as a character string, not as a sublist.
Regardless of the setting of the COMPAT(SYSLIST) assembler option, you cannot pass separate (as opposed to a sublist of) parameters into a macro definition, by specifying a string of values separated by commas as the operand of a SETC instruction and then using the SETC symbol as an operand in the macro instruction. If you attempt to do this, the operand of the SETC instruction is passed to the macro instruction as one parameter, not as a list of parameters.