&SYSM_SEV System Variable Symbol

Use &SYSM_SEV to get the highest MNOTE severity code for the macro most recently called directly from this level.

The global-scope system variable symbol &SYSM_SEV is assigned a read-only value. The assembler assigns a value of zero when a macro is called and when a macro returns (MEND or MEXIT), the highest severity of all MNOTE assembler instructions executed in the called macro is used to update the variable.

Notes:

The value of the variable symbol is supplied as three numeric characters, not as an arithmetic (binary) value.
The value of the type attribute of &SYSM_SEV (T'&SYSM_SEV) is always N.
The value of the count attribute (K'&SYSM_SEV) is always 3.
The value of &SYSM_SEV is unreliable if any MNOTE is incorrectly coded such that a diagnostic message is generated for the MNOTE statement. The cause of the diagnostic message must be corrected.

In Figure 1 the &SYSM_SEV variable has a value of 0 until INNER returns. The OUTER macro uses &SYSM_SEV to determine which statements to generate, and in this case issues an MNOTE to pass the severity back to the open code.

Figure 1. Example of the behavior of the &SYSM_HSEV and &SYSM_SEV variables

                                      1     MACRO
                                      2     OUTER &SEV
                                      3     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 1
                                      4     MNOTE  &SEV,'OUTER - parm severity=&SEV'
                                      5     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 2
                                      6     INNER
                                      7     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 3
                                      8     AIF ('&SEV' GT '&SYSM_SEV').MN
                                      9     MNOTE  &SYSM_SEV,'OUTER - returned severity=&SYSM_SEV'
                                     10 .MN ANOP
                                     11     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) outer 4
                                     12     MEND
                                     13     MACRO
                                     14     INNER
                                     15     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) inner 1
                                     16     MNOTE  8,'INNER'
                                     17     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) inner 2
                                     18     MEND
000000                00000 00040    19 E_G CSECT
                                     20 *,OPEN CODE    an mnote comment - sev=0
                                     21     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) open_code
000000 0000000000000000                +    DC     A(000,000)              open_code
                                     22     OUTER  4
000008 0000000000000000              23+    DC     A(000,000)              outer 1
** ASMA254I *** MNOTE ***            24+     4,OUTER - parm severity=4
000010 0000000400000000              25+    DC     A(004,000)              outer 2
000018 0000000400000000              26+    DC     A(004,000)              inner 1
** ASMA254I *** MNOTE ***            27+     8,INNER
000020 0000000800000000              28+    DC     A(008,000)              inner 2
000028 0000000800000008              29+    DC     A(008,008)              outer 3
** ASMA254I *** MNOTE ***            30+     008,OUTER - returned severity=008
000030 0000000800000008              31+    DC     A(008,008)              outer 4
                                     32 *,OPEN CODE    an mnote comment - sev=0
                                     33     DC     A(&SYSM_HSEV,&SYSM_SEV) open_code
000038 0000000800000008                +    DC     A(008,008)              open_code
                                     34     END