JOB Statement | JOB Card


  • A JOB statement with all its parameters is also called as JOB Card.
  • A JOB card makes the OS aware of the specific job after it submits and provides the parameters required to run the job.
  • The JOB card is the first statement in the job and should always code as the first statement.
  • A JOB card is mandatory for the job to run and should code only once.
  • A JOB card is used to -
    • Identify the JOB uniquely.
    • Provide accounting information.
    • Provide the parameters treated as global and applies to the entire JOB.
    • Provide information about how to run the job.
    • Identify the user information who is responsible for the job.
    • And many more.
  • JOB card can be coded in multiple lines with a continuation character (,) immediately after the parameter anywhere from 17 to 72 columns.

Syntax -

----+----1----+---2---+---3---+----4----+---5---+
//job-name JOB  job-card-parameters

The JOB statement is divided into three parts -

  • JOB Name (job-name).
  • JOB Operation (JOB).
  • JOB Card parameters (job-card-parameters).

JOB Name (job-name) -

  • JOB name is the first word in the JOB statement and is used to identify the job.
  • JOB name starts from the 3rd column and ends at the 10th column.
  • The JOB name length can be a minimum of 1 character and a maximum of 8 characters.
  • JOB name can be anything from the following -
    • Next available name in the system for PROD jobs.
    • Userid of the user who submitted the JOB (in the test environment).
    • Task name that is completed by the specific JOB.

There are no specific rules for naming a job. The job names and the member name are mostly the same. For example -

Jobcard

JOB Operation -

  • JOB is the keyword used to code the JOB statement in JCL.
  • The job entry system (JES) identifies the JOB statement using the JOB keyword.
  • A job has only one JOB statement.

JOB Card Parameters -

  • JOB Card parameters are treated as global and applies to each step in the job.
  • If any parameter is coded at the step and JOB level, the step level parameter has the highest priority.
  • The JOB card parameter is ignored if a step is coded with the same parameter.
  • JOB Card parameters are divided into two types -
    • Positional parameters.
    • Keyword parameters.

Example -


Jobcard