@CMD and @JCL – Check RC of previous command or JCL step

This function compares the return code of a previous Workload Automation Programming Language command, or a previous JCL step in the same job, with a specified value.

The command returns 1 if the comparison is true, or 0 if the comparison is false.

@CMD([<label>.]EQ|NE|LT|LE|GT|GE.]<value>)

@JCL([[<label>.]EQ|NE|LT|LE|GT|GE|EM|NM.]<value>)

where:

<label>: Workload Automation Programming Language label of the command or step name within the job currently running.
EQ: Is true if the return code is equal to <value>.
NE: Is true if the return code is not equal to <value>.
LT: Is true if the return code is less than <value>.
LE: Is true if the return code is less than equal to <value>.
GT: Is true if the return code is greater than <value>.
GE: Is true if the return code is greater than or equal to <value>.
EM: Is true if the abend matches the mask specified as <value> (@JCL only).
NM: Is true if the abend does not match the mask specified as <value> (@JCL only).
<value>: The value with which the return code or abend is being compared.

For @JCL, the <label> can be STEPNAME.PROCSTEP or PROCSTEP, where PROCSTEP is the actual step name running the program (whether it is in a job or a procedure), and STEPNAME is the name of the step calling the procedure where the step runs. If the same PROCSTEP occurs more than once, the return code of the latest step is returned if only the PROCSTEP is specified. If more than one combination of STEPNAME.PROCSTEP exists within the job, the latest is used.

Examples:

@JCL(STEP0040.EQ.0) allows a command to run when STEP0040 has a return code of 0.
@JCLL(RUNWAPL.EQQYXTOP.EQ.4) allows a command to run when a step called RUNWAPL calling the Workload Automation Programming Language procstep EQQYXTOP ends with return code of 4.
@JCL(EQQYXTOP.EQ.4) allows a step to run when the latest step using the name EQQYXTOP occurs.

For both @JCL and @CMD, a positive number can be used for <label> to reference an absolute step or command number, for example 1 for the first step, 3 for the third command. Negative numbers can be used for relative steps or command, for example -1 for the immediately previous step, -2 for the command before the last one.

Note:

Workload Automation Programming Language automatically runs commands on your behalf, and some commands may internally run other commands to achieve their goal. Use SHOW RC(5) to see all the commands that have run up to that point. Using SHOW RC without specifying a message level, lists all commands up to and including the current value of OPTIONS MSGLEVEL.
The SHOW RC command lists the names of all steps in the job, including the Workload Automation Programming Language step currently running. This step, however, is not used when looking up steps by name, because it is not a preceding step. You can reference the step currently running by the relative address of 0, as follows: VARSET THISSTEP ENVATTR(JCL,STEP,0), and then use VARSET to find out details of the running step.

To receive step information, you can use the following special values for <label> in @CMD, @JCL and VARSET:

LAST_RC: Refers to the previous JCL step or Workload Automation Programming Language command.
LAST_XRC: Refers to the preceding JCL step or Workload Automation Programming Language command that was actually run.
MAX_RC: Refers to the step that set the maximum return code.
MAX_RESP: Refers to the step that set the maximum response code (for LISTSTAT).

For @JCL, the MAX_RC label points to the step issuing the highest return code, unless an ABEND has occurred, when this will be the last abended step, to allow for situations where ONLY and EVEN is used. For MAX_RC and MAX_RESP, if SETMAX is used to lower the maximum return code, it will point to the step issuing the highest return code from that point, which could be the SETMAX statement itself.

If the <label> is not specified, the last executed step or command is used (LAST_XRC). This default can be altered by OPTIONS IFJCL or OPTIONS IFCMD as appropriate. For example, @CMD(EQ.0) would allow only a command to run if the last command that was not flushed ended with a return code of 0.

If both <label> and the comparator are not specified, <label> defaults to LAST_XRC and the comparator defaults to EQ. For example, @CMD(0) would allow only a command to run if the last executed command ended with return code 0.