User-Defined Variables

The ability to specify user-defined variables provides additional flexibility. You can define your own variables and assign values to them. Control-M automatically edits the job stream accordingly. This facility is especially useful when it is necessary to share parameters or other information (for example, tape numbers) among jobs.

Control-M assumes that strings that begin with %% are user-defined variables, except for certain reserved System variables (which usually, but not always, begin with %%$).

For a list of all System variables, see System variables.

User-defined variables are defined as either:

• Local variables, which are discussed in Local Variables
• Global variables, which are discussed in Global Variables

Multiple AutoEdit variables can be joined with each other and with constants, and periods (.) are often part of this process (for example, JOB_%%JOBID%%._ENDED_OK). This is discussed in more detail in Rules of Variable Resolution.

Backslashes (\) are used only in Global variable assignments, and differentiate Global variables from local variables. For more information, see Global Variable Assignment and Syntax.

Unlike System variables, which are predefined and which receive their values from the system at time of job submission, two steps are performed for utilizing user-defined variables:

• The first step consists of specifying (defining) user-defined variables, usually within the JCL, instead of values that require manual modification.
• The second step consists of providing values to replace the user-defined variables at time of job submission. (Since the values are not provided by the system, the user must specify the appropriate values.) It is permissible, however, for user-defined variables to take their values from System variables (for example, %%SET %%VERSION = %%ODATE).)

User defined AutoEdit variables in post-processing statements of the scheduling definition (DO MAIL, DO SHOUT, and so on) are resolved according to the following search order:

• SET VAR statements in the job's definition
• SET VAR statements in the SMART Table Entity (for jobs belonging to a SMART Table)
• AutoEdit definitions loaded into the Control-M AutoEdit cache

Note that during post-processing, it is impossible to refer to an external library member containing AutoEdit variable definitions (that is, through %%LIBSYM xxxxx, %%MEMSYM yyyy, or %%GLOBAL zzzz statements). The only external method of resolving user AutoEdit variables for post-processing is to load the member(s) into the AutoEdit cache (see Loading Members to Cache.