HLASM Language Reference

SET Symbols
SET Symbol Specifications
SET symbols can be used in model statements, from which assembler language
statements are generated, and in conditional assembly instructions. The three
types of SET symbols are: SETA, SETB, and SETC. A SET symbol must be a
valid variable symbol.
The rules for creating a SET symbol are:
The first character must be an ampersand (&)
The second character must be an alphabetic character
The remaining characters must be 0 to 61 alphanumeric
The first four characters should not be &SYS, which are used for system
variable symbols
Examples:
&ARITHMETICVALUE439
&BOOLEAN
&C
&EASY_TO_READ
Local SET symbols need not be declared by explicit declarations. The assembler
considers any undeclared variable symbol found in the name field of a SETx
instruction as a local SET symbol, and implicitly declares it to have the type
specified by the SETx instruction. The instruction that declares a SET symbol
determines its scope and type.
The features of SET symbols and other types of variable symbols are compared in
Figure 86.
Figure 86 (Page 1 of 3). Features of SET Symbols and Other Types of Variable Symbols
Features
Can be used in:
Open code
SETA,
SETB,
SETC
symbols
Yes
Symbolic
Parameters
No
System Variable
Symbols
&SYSASM
&SYSDATC
&SYSDATE
&SYSJOB
&SYSM_HSEV
&SYSM_SEV
&SYSOPT_DBCS
&SYSOPT_OPTABLE
&SYSOPT_RENT
&SYSOPT_XOBJECT
&SYSPARM
&SYSSTEP
&SYSSTMT
&SYSTEM_ID
&SYSTIME
&SYSVER
Macro definitions
Yes
Yes
All
320 HLASM V1R5 Language Reference