Functions and CALL Routines under OpenVMS

PUTSYM Function: OpenVMS

Creates a DCL symbol in the parent SAS process.

Category:	General-Purpose OpenVMS
OpenVMS specifics:	All aspects are host-specific

Syntax
Details
See Also

Syntax

PUTSYM(symbol-name,value,scope)

symbol-name: is the name of the DCL symbol that you want to create. It can be a character variable value, a character literal enclosed in double quotation marks, or another character expression.
value: is the string to be assigned to the symbol. It can be a character variable, a character literal enclosed in double quotation marks, or another character expression.
scope: defines whether the symbol is a local or global symbol. If the value of scope is 1, the symbol is defined as a local symbol. If the value of scope is 2, the symbol is defined as a global symbol. The scope argument can be either a numeric literal or a numeric variable.

Details

The PUTSYM function creates a DCL symbol in the parent SAS process. If the PUTSYM function executes successfully, then the return value is 0. Otherwise, the return value is the OpenVMS error code that indicates why it failed.

Symbols created by the PUTSYM function do not affect an existing subprocess. Any symbol that is created with the PUTSYM function is unavailable to future X commands, SYSTEM calls, or VMS functions for the existing subprocesses. If the current subprocess is destroyed and a new subprocess created, then the new subprocess will inherit all existing symbols and logical names from the parent SAS process.

For further information, see XTIMEOUT= System Option: OpenVMS. If you need the symbol for use in future X commands, then use an X command to create the symbol using normal DCL syntax instead of using the PUTSYM function.