Purpose: Use the CNTL statement to mark the beginning of program control statements in the input stream. Program control statements specify control information for a subsystem. The program control statements are ended by an ENDCNTL statement and are called a CNTL/ENDCNTL group.

The DD statement that defines a data set to be processed by a subsystem must refer to the CNTL statement in order for the subsystem to use the program control statements in processing the data set.

References: The program control statements are documented in the publications for the subsystems. For example, for information on program control statements for the Print Services Facility™ (PSF) see PSF for z/OS: CustomizationPSF for z/OS: Customization.