You can specify system symbols in VATLSTxx.
However, be aware that the fields in VATLSTxx are column-dependent
(except for the VATDEF statement). The resolved substitution texts
for the system symbols must
conform to the rules described in Statements/parameters for VATLSTxx.
The following rules apply when you use system symbols in VATLSTxx:
- If a system symbol is used anywhere in the volume serial number,
there must be a blank after the entire volume serial number. This
blank delimits the end of the volume serial number, not the end of
the system symbol, and does not become part of the volume serial number
when resolved.
- A period at the end of the system symbol delimits the end of that
symbol. The period is optional for the following cases:
- between 2 system symbols. In this case, the & that begins
the second system symbol acts as a delimiter.
- before the blank delimiter at the end of the entire volume serial
number.
- before a generic character, such as % or *.
- The volume serial number field in the VATLSTxx entry must be exactly
6 characters long. If a combination of system symbols resolves to
less than 6 characters, you must add blanks to pad the volume serial
number.
Let us assume we have an IEASYMxx member with the following definitions:
- SYMDEF(&SYMB1.='PA')
- SYMDEF(&SYMB2.='GE')
- SYMDEF(&SYMB3.='%%')
With these assumptions, each of the examples that follow will resolve
to a volume serial number of PAGE%%:
- This example leaves out periods before &.
&SYMB1.&SYMB2.&SYMB3. ,0,0,3390...
&SYMB1&SYMB2&SYMB3. ,0,0,3390...
- This example leaves out periods before %.
&SYMB1&SYMB2.%% ,0,0,3390...
&SYMB1&SYMB2%% ,0,0,3390...
- In this example, the blank that delimits the end of the volume
serial number also delimits the end of the system symbol.
PAGE&SYMB3. ,0,0,3390...
PAGE&SYMB3 ,0,0,3390...
Using the same assumptions for the IEASYMxx member, the following
VATLSTxx entry would be invalid:
&SYMB1GE%% ,0,0,3390...
Instead of appending "GE%%" to the end of &SYMB1, the system
would look for a system variable &SYMB1GE, which does not exist
in our example.
For information about how to use system symbols in shared
parmlib members that require unique values, see Sharing parmlib definitions.