JOB Statement

Purpose

The JOB statement is the first statement in a JCL job. It identifies the start of a job and provides information about the job to the system.

Syntax

jcl
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//jobname JOB [accounting-information],[programmer-name],parameter[,parameter]...

Key Parameters

  • jobname - A 1-8 character name that identifies the job. Must begin with an alphabetic (A-Z) or national (@, #, $) character.
  • accounting-information - Optional information used for accounting purposes, often enclosed in parentheses.
  • programmer-name - Identifies who submitted the job (1-20 characters).

Common Parameters

  • CLASS=x - Specifies the job class (A-Z, 0-9)
  • MSGCLASS=x - Specifies the output class for job log
  • MSGLEVEL=(s,m) - Controls JCL and allocation messages
  • TIME=minutes or TIME=(minutes,seconds) - Maximum execution time
  • REGION=nnnK or REGION=nnnM - Maximum memory allocation
  • NOTIFY=userid - Sends completion notification
  • TYPRUN=SCAN - Validates JCL without execution

Example

jcl
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//PAYROLL  JOB (ACCT123,'DEPT56'),'JOHN SMITH',
//             CLASS=A,
//             MSGCLASS=X,
//             MSGLEVEL=(1,1),
//             NOTIFY=&SYSUID,
//             REGION=0M,
//             TIME=NOLIMIT

Notes

  • The JOB statement must be the first statement in a JCL job
  • Only one JOB statement is allowed per job
  • Parameters can be continued on subsequent lines using the continuation character (comma) at the end of a line
  • The JOB statement defines job-level attributes that apply to all steps within the job

Related Concepts