foo = value('BAR',,baz)
-- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Charles Mills [charl...@mcn.org] Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 12:27 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Gratuitous EXECIO Documentation It is SO counter-intuitive to put the name of a variable in quotes. You would not code ENQ ('MYMAJOR','MYMINOR',E,8). Once you realize that EXECIO is an external command, not a language keyword, you start to get it. Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Tony Thigpen Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 9:01 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Gratuitous EXECIO Documentation In my experience, over 30 years of using REXX on first VM, then VSE and now z/OS, I can't tell you how many times I have had to help people with the EXECIO syntax as it relates to "what is a keyword" and "what is a variable". I would put it at the top of the "common programming errors in REXX" list. I have seen the following error SOOOO many times: ... "STEM" line. Which should be: ... "STEM LINE." I would not consider this "gratuitous" documentation. Tony Thigpen Paul Gilmartin wrote on 6/5/20 11:29 AM: > In: > https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSLTBW_2.3.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r3.ikja300/dup0037.htm > > I see the verbiage: > When you use EXECIO, you must ensure that you use quotation marks > around any operands, such as DISKW, STEM, FINIS, or LIFO. Using > quotation marks prevents the possibility of the operands being > substituted > as variables. For example, if you assign the variable stem to a value in > the exec and then issue EXECIO with the STEM option, if STEM is not > enclosed in quotation marks, it is substituted with its assigned value. > > Sheesh! A similar caution might be included for any command in the Ref., > but it doesn't belong. > > "must ensure"? Well, not always. > > I infer the etiology: A troublesome user once coded: > STEM=SKIP /* perhaps */ > EXECIO ... > ... got astonishing results; went to SR; got fully proper "REJ; RTFM"; > vindictively submitted RCF. A feckless tech writer acceded and added > the paragraph. > > I strongly suspect the matter is covered properly earlier (citation needed) > in the Ref., which shouldn't be cluttered with such errant rubbish. > > (I was reading that Ref. to see whether EXECIO assembles segments > of V[B]S records. Didn't find it.) > > -- gil > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN