Error in JCL job

Question

I have the below job which runs on a zlinux server and it creates a trigger in a destination zOS system.

//WPLP0500 JOB (GBCRM,GBAWPL),'PLIW ESI TRIGGER', 
// CLASS=A,REGION=32M,MSGCLASS=E 
//STEP EXEC PGM=IEFBR14 
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*

But it is giving the below errors

STMT NO. MESSAGE                                                       
        1 IEFC620I UNIDENTIFIABLE CHARACTER   ON THE JOB STATEMENT      
        2 IEFC605I UNIDENTIFIED OPERATION FIELD                         
        3 IEFC620I UNIDENTIFIABLE CHARACTER   ON THE EXEC STATEMENT

Can anyone please guide me on this.

As well as the messages, you need to post the full JCL from spool file two for your JOB, including the //'s. — Bill Woodger, Jul 14 '16 at 16:14

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 15 '16 at 17:29

1

Now that your error messages are formatted, you can see that for 1 and three it is complaining about something "invisible".

Invisible things in JCL are non-printable characters. If you are able to look at that job output in hex, you will see exactly what the unprintable characters are.

For 2, it doesn't show you the character, but the problem is the same (likely).

My bet is that they are "ASCII-spaces", hex-code 20. Making the bet because otherwise you'd have seen them on the z/Linux system.

You haven't listed the content of file two of the spool for your JOB, from which it may be possible to tell more, but your problem is "non-display" characters on your JCL cards. Probably ASCII-spaces. Perhaps not.

answered Jul 15 '16 at 17:29

Bill Woodger

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Thanks for your reply Bill. I am new to the JCL coding. Actually the purpose is, we have a shell script which first FTPs the file from the zlinux server to a zOS system and then it runs the above .txt file (ie the JCL code),now I am not sure if this error is coming from the shell script or from the JCL code. Here is my script #!/bin/sh USER=username PASSWD=password ftp -n dest_sys < – Harshi Jul 18 '16 at 06:36
I think if you look at your .txt file in hex and paste it into your question with the edit link, we can tell what is happening. – Bill Woodger Jul 18 '16 at 11:09
Bill, how can I do that? Will you need me to format the shell script and post it here, coz it is not showing them in separate lines. – Harshi Jul 18 '16 at 13:09
That may be an indicator to the issue. Are you able to display the hex values on z/Linux with something? If so, it is the first three lines (the JOB card is on two lines) we need to see. Find how to show hex, and paste into your question, using the edit link under the question. – Bill Woodger Jul 18 '16 at 16:01
#!/bin/sh USER=username PASSWD=password ftp -n dest_sys < – Harshi Jul 19 '16 at 05:36
02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x 02x in 22 lines and then I used this on the script: xxd -p -l 50 -seek 10 WLPL0500.sh and I got the below output 555345523d495753534f31320a5041535357443d53554d31364d45520a66 7470202d6e204d454747512e564950412e554b2e Not sure which output will help you – Harshi Jul 19 '16 at 05:37
Do you have an TSO/ISPF account which allows you to look at your output files in the spool? We can shortcut the hex investigation (I'm just off to work) by looking at those error messages you showed. In there, hidden as it is "non-display", is the hex-value of what is causing the problem. Remember, when you find that value it is in EBCDIC (likely) so you'll have to consider its ASCII source. If there is no "obvious" translation, then that value is the ASCII source. Then you need to know what it means in ASCII. – Bill Woodger Jul 19 '16 at 05:53
I suspect that spaces are OK, otherwise EXEC and JOB would likely not be detected e.g. You could include EXEC elsewhere e.g. //EXEC001 ..... I suspect that it could be the new line character that is causing the issue. This link may be of use(https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSLTBW_2.1.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r1.ioea600/smbadap021003899.htm) – MikeT Jul 19 '16 at 20:13

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '16 at 20:57

0

It would appear that you have omitted // on all lines (if the space before the jobname (WPLP0500) is coded would also cause issues). try :-

//WPLP0500 JOB (GBCRM,GBAWPL),'TRIGGER',
// CLASS=A,REGION=32M,MSGCLASS=E
//STEP EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*

Note that the last line is superfluous as program IEFBR14 does not produce any output. In fact the program effectively just returns i.e. it Branches to the value held in Register 14, which, at program start, contains the return address.

answered Jul 14 '16 at 20:57

MikeT

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I don't think so, I think they just weren't pasted. Without the "//" they wouldn't have been identified as "JOB" or "EXEC", they would just have been treated as "instream data" and a //SYSIN DD * card would have been generated. If submitted from TSO/ISPF the JOB card (if missing) would have been generated. I'd go for some z/Linux character, but exactly what is difficult to know without exactly what was there. – Bill Woodger Jul 15 '16 at 04:49
//WPLP0500 JOB (GBCRM,GBAWPL),'PLIW ESI TRIGGER', // CLASS=A,REGION=32M,MSGCLASS=E //STEP EXEC PGM=IEFBR14 //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* This is the code in the job. But still it shows the error. The purpose is just to start and end the trigger – Harshi Jul 15 '16 at 06:34
//WPLP0500 JOB (GBCRM,GBAWPL),'PLIW ESI TRIGGER', 66EDDDFFFF4DDC44CCCDD6CCCEDD567DDCE4CEC4EDCCCCD760444 116737050001620D72394B721673DBD7396052903997759DBD000 // CLASS=A,REGION=32M,MSGCLASS=E 664CDCEE7C6DCCCDD7FFD6DECCDCEE7C044444444444444444444 11033122E1B957965E324B42733122E5D00000000000000000000 //STEP EXEC PGM=IEFBR14 66EECD4CECC4DCD7CCCCDFF044444444444444444444444444444 112357057530774E9562914D00000000000000000000000000000 – Harshi Jul 19 '16 at 12:08
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=* 66EEEDDCDE4CC4EEEDEE754444444444444444444444444444444 11282799530440282643EC0000000000000000000000000000000 hex '40' that is space. that is okay e.g. look at the first row hex '6B' - that is last comma and then this hex '0D' that causes the problem Hope this helps – Harshi Jul 19 '16 at 12:09
@Bill Yep // is unlikely as I was leaping before looking. i.e. concentrated on the unidentified character aspect. Harshi, as also posted above have a look at this link https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSLTBW_2.1.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r1.ioea600/smbadap021003899.htm – MikeT Jul 19 '16 at 20:17

Error in JCL job

2 Answers2