CLP Coding Rules

Coding rules for CLP Commands

These rules apply both on Command Line and inside a CLP program.

• Blank space separates parts of a command
  • Example WRKOUTQ QFISCAL* to get at list of all OUTQ whose name starts with QFISCAL
• Parentheses go around keywords and values
  • Example SAVLIB LIB(XFILES) DEV(TAP01)
• Slash connects parts of a qualified name or path name
  • Example WRKOBJ XFILES/UFOS
• Single apostrophe indicates beginning and end of a quoted character string (a constant)
  • Example SNDMSG MSG('Intruder Alert') TOUSR(QBOSS)
• *N is a place holder (take the defaults) indicating the absense of a positional parameter
  • Example RUNQRY *N LOG
• Predefined values begin with an asterisk and indicate IBM-defined values which are reserved by OS/400 and may be used in programs to have those set functions
  • Example SAVLIB LIB(*ALLUSR) DEV(*SAVF)
• Generic name contains one or more characters that are those that start some object(s) then end in asterisk to signify wild card list of all that share that prefix
  • Example DSPF*

Coding rules inside CLP Programs

• Variable name has ampersand & followed by up to 10 characters (11 total), used to store and update data and to receive parameters, as temporary storage while program is running
• Colon : ends a command label
  • Example LABEL:
• /* at beginning and */ at end of comment lines
• plus sign at end of line(s) that need to go to another line, when the next character is non-blank (F4 gets it perfect)
• minus sign at end of line(s) that need to go to another line, when the next character period (F4 gets it perfect)

CLP Program Structure

• Except for comment lines
• CLP program begins with PGM Program command and ends with ENDPGM End Program command
  • ENDPGM is safety to make sure we have all of the source code
• Right after PGM is the DCL declaration section where we define the variables that will be used in the rest of the program