:DATA

Use the :DATA script statement to explicitly declare a script line as a DATA line. Data lines are Job Control Language (JCL) lines in your scripts. Data lines contain commands for processing tasks in target systems. All script lines that are not comment lines, and do not contain script statements, are regarded as data lines.

Important! Conflicts can arise if you start a data line with a colon or exclamation mark. Always declare such data lines explicitly by using the :DATA statement.

Syntax

:DATA Statement

Parameters

  • :DATA
    Explicitly declares the script line as a data line

  • statement
    Command for the specific target system
    Format: script literal or script variable

Notes:

  • You can only use data lines with Job objects.
  • You can write the statement without quotation marks. All characters until the end of the line are recognized.
  • Any script variable in the statement is replaced by the value of the script variable when the script is processed.

Example

The following example is a script from a PC batch file. The script defines a branch to a label where error handling is carried out. Labels in PC batch files usually start with a colon. To avoid conflicts, this line is explicitly declared with a :DATA statement.

!...
GOTO ERRORMESSAGE

!...

:
DATA ":ERRORMESSAGE"  
!...

See also: