Thanks all. I am getting it now. I had the wrong mental model of how Rexx stems work (and I suspect some others may also.)
I pictured it kind of like C or COBOL multi-dimensional arrays. I pictured Rexx A.B.C.D being essentially analogous to C language A[B,C,D] or COBOL A(B, C, D) albeit with "associative subscripts." But it really is more like a one-dimensional array than an n-dimensional array. A.B.C.D is kind of the same thing as A.ValueOfB_ValueOfC_ValueOfD. The periods just separate the different variable names, making A.B.C.D distinct from A.BCD. B.C.D is one "subscript," not three. There is only one tail, a series of values essentially concatenated with periods, not a hierarchy of tails. The fact that it is one-dimensional explains why A.B. has no special significance. A. is special; it is "all the possible tails of A" but A.B. is just "A.B plus a period." Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Seymour J Metz Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2021 7:06 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Rexx stem variable question https://ia801609.us.archive.org/14/items/REXXLanguage2ndEdition/REXX%20Langu age%20-%202nd%20Edition.pdf "The name begins with a stem (that part of the symbol up to and including the first period)." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
