No, I don't mean that. I mean that if a calling program passes more than 100 characters, the compiler ignores those in excess of 100. That's what the manual says, and that's how some of the IBM COBOL compilers behave.
My statement is not based on projecting the JCL limitation onto the compiler. The quoted passage is from the part of the PG that deals specifically with calling the compiler from an assembler program. My point was specifically intended to cast a shadow on Gil's logically-reasonable suggestion that the OP write a Rexx program to defeat the JCL limitation. WHY would the COBOL compiler behave this way? Perhaps to assure consistent results whether loaded as a jobstep program or from a calling program. (I disagree with the design decision.) Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris Mason Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 10:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: COBOL compiler options JCL PARM. Charles Reading the posts in this thread I sometimes get the impression that this 100 character limit is being regarded as a convention rather than an absolute limit. Maybe it's because the "PG", by which I expect you mean the COBOL "Programmer's Guide", and other product manuals tend to give this impression. I expect you know but some reading the thread may not. The reason "The compiler recognizes only the first 100 characters in the list." is that this is the way the PARM operand works. See section 16.8.1, "Syntax" under section 16.8, "PARM Parameter" in z/OS V1R7.0-V1R8.0 MVS JCL Reference where you will find the following: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
