Specifying binder options

The content and usage of the options defined in this topic applies to all interfaces listed above. For the syntax of the tailored option facilities, see the documentation for each of those interfaces. The syntax discussed in the following subsection applies only to the options listed as option strings.

There are special rules that apply only to JCL EXEC statements that are discussed in Special rules for JCL EXEC statements.

The following rules apply to all option's strings:

Each option has a two to eight character option name. The name can be entered in upper, lower, or mixed case, but is always folded to upper case for processing.
Options are separated from each other by one or more blanks or commas, or any combination of them.
The same option may be specified more than once, or two alternative options (such as CALL and NOCALL) can both be specified. In all cases, the last specification encountered is used. No attempt is made to merge values from multiple option name occurrences.
Some options have an optional or required value associated with the name. Where present, the option value must immediately follow the option name with no intervening blanks or commas.
- Option values can be enclosed in parentheses or single quotation marks.
- The value is separated from the option name by a single equal sign, which can be omitted if the value is enclosed in parentheses.
There is no support for comments before, within, or following an option string.

The syntax of the PARM field is:

PARM=(option[,option],…)

          where option can be specified as

          {{option}
          {option(value[,value]…)}
          {option=value}
          {option=(value[,value]…)}}

You can use single quotations marks, rather than parentheses, to enclose the complete options string in the PARM field. You can use parentheses outside a complete string that is delimited by single quotation marks, as in PARM=('option,option'). You cannot use single quotation marks outside a complete string that is delimited by parentheses. You can enclose values in parentheses.

Binder keywords are always converted to upper case. If you only specify one option, it need not be enclosed in parentheses or single quotation marks.

The binder bridges the limitations imposed by the JCL interpreter by allowing additional freedom in the format of the options string. While it makes every effort to resolve explicit (and implied) syntactical and semantic combinations in the options string, its success is very much dependent on the validity of the string specification. Caution and adherence to the options syntax is recommended when building the options string. Binder warning or error messages will identify any problems detected while parsing the options string.

Options that would otherwise be set on the PARM field can also be specified in the options file. This allows you to specify a set of binder options that might otherwise exceed the MVS™ PARM string length limitation of 100 bytes. It also allows you to create one or more binding profiles that can be included at bind time. Options are processed in order, starting with the beginning of the parm string. When you specify OPTIONS=ddname in the PARM field, the ddname is opened and the options in that file are processed. Processing then continues with the option following OPTIONS= in the parm string.