Use of symbolic fields - syncsort_scc_monitor - Latest

Syncsort™ Storage Management Monitor RTM User Guide
Product type
Software
Portfolio
Integrate
Product family
Syncsort™ software
Product
Syncsort™ Storage Management > Syncsort™ SCC Monitor
Version
Latest
ft:locale
en-US
Product name
Syncsort Storage Management
ft:title
Syncsort™ Storage Management Monitor RTM User Guide
Copyright
2025
First publish date
1991
ft:lastEdition
2025-12-05
ft:lastPublication
2025-12-05T10:34:38.129000
L1_Product_Gateway
Integrate
L2_Product_Segment
IBM Infrastructure
L3_Product_Brand
Precisely Syncsort
L4_Investment_Segment
Mainframe
L5_Product_Group
Mainframe Storage Optimization
L6_Product_Name
Syncsort Storage Management

Expressions, operator commands, messages, rule records, and SMF records can use symbolic fields. Symbolic fields usually start with the ampersand (&) character, the only exception being an expression.

When symbolic fields are used in the rules language, the entire symbolic name does not need to be entered—only enough of the name to ensure that the field is unique.
Tip: You can abbreviate symbolic field names as long as they remain unique.
For example, a symbolic name of &JOBN can be used to specify &JOBNAME.
Since only symbolic fields can be used on the left side of an expression, the ampersand character is optional.
Important: The ampersand (&) is optional on the left side of an expression.
For example, both of the following expressions will compare the user’s account number to the literal SY-0286-DJT: 
IF &ACCT = SY-0286-DJT
IF ACCT = SY-0286-DJT

When evaluating an expression, symbolic substitution will be performed before evaluating the expression. This facility allows symbolic fields to be placed on both sides of the relational operator. In the following example, the expression will compare the OWNERID for a VSAM file with the current job name. 

IF &OWNER NE &JOBNAME

The DEFCMD, DEFMSG, DEFREC, and DEFSMF statements can use symbolic fields to build operator commands, messages, rule records, and SMF records. For example, the following message will perform symbolic substitution for the current job name: 

DEFMSG WRNMSG01 “** WARNING ** &JOBNAME INVALID”

When just part of a symbolic field is required, the displacement and length of the substring can be specified with the symbolic name. The displacement and length should be enclosed in parentheses and separated by a comma or blank. The parenthetical field must be concatenated with the symbolic field name, and cannot be separated with blanks. Do not insert blanks between the symbolic field name and the parenthetical substring specification. For example, the following symbolic name will be evaluated for the first three characters of the job name: 

&JOBNAME(1,3)