You can use double ampersand notation to:
- Defer the processing of a symbol until a later time
- Tell the system to process an ampersand as a literal character (instead of a character that indicates the beginning of a symbol).
When the system finds two consecutive ampersands at the beginning of a valid symbol, the first ampersand is removed and the second is kept in place. A subsequent process can then substitute text for the symbol in later processing, or the second ampersand can remain as a literal character.
Note: Defer the processing of
system symbols only if a function specifically states that it supports double ampersand notation (for example, the naming of dump data sets with the DUMPDS command, which is described in
z/OS MVS System Commands). If a function does not specifically state that it supports double ampersand notation, the system might not perform the desired substitution.
The system removes the first ampersand:
&DAY.