Reference control sections

A reference control section is one you initiate by using the DSECT, COM, or DXD instruction, as follows:

You can use the DSECT instruction to initiate or continue a dummy control section. For more information about dummy sections, see Dummy control sections.
You can use the COM instruction to initiate or continue a common control section. For more information about common sections, see Common control sections.
You can use the DXD instructions to define an external dummy section. For more information about external dummy sections, see External dummy sections.

At assembly time, reference control sections are not assembled into object code. You can use a reference control section either to reserve storage areas or to describe data to which you can refer from executable control sections. These reference control sections are considered empty at assembly time, and the actual binary data to which they refer is not available until execution time.