Providing a name for a file is optional, but if files are to be held for posterity, it is best to assign a name.
Data set names name be up to 44 characters in length, but no part of the name can exceed eight characters in length. The parts of the name, or nodes, will be separated from each other by full stops. The usual rules apply to the construction of these nodes, in that:
Not only is it preferable to pre-assign the data set name for permanent data sets, there can be advantages to using pre-determined temporary data set names. This is achieved by simply coding a name prefixed by two ampersands, i.e. DSN=&&TEMP. This techniques aids referencing temporary files at later stages in job processing. Note that temporary data sets cannot be held beyond the life of a job.
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