Functions and CALL Routines under z/OS

DSNCATLGD Function: z/OS

Verifies the existence of an external file in the z/OS system catalog by its physical name.

Category:	External Files
z/OS specifics:	all

Syntax
Details
See Also

Syntax

DSNCATLGD(filename)

filename

specifies a physical filename of an external file. In a DATA step, filename can be a character expression, a character string in quotation marks, or a DATA step variable. In a macro, filename can be any expression.

Only native z/OS data set names can be specified; filename cannot specify an HFS path.

Details

DSNCATLGD returns a value of 1 if the filename is found in the z/OS system catalog, and a value of 0 if the filename is not found in the catalog.

DSNCATLGD is similar to the FILEEXIST function, but there are some differences that make DSNCATLGD the preferred function to use in some circumstances. DSNCATLGD does not cause dynamic allocation to occur, which is useful for tape data sets because it does not require that a tape be mounted.

When a batch job is creating a new z/OS data set, DSNCATLGD will not return a value of 1 until the job step that creates the data set terminates. FILEEXIST, which uses dynamic allocation to verify that the data set exists, returns a value of 1 anytime after the start of the batch job that is creating the data set.

Note: z/OS enters a dynamically allocated data set into the system catalog immediately at the time of the dynamic allocation request. All allocations made by TSO users are treated in this manner. [cautionend]