JOB Card Positional Parameters


  • The JOB card parameters that are very specific about their position are called as positional parameters.
  • These parameters are mandatory and required for OS.
  • Positional parameters start immediately after the JOB keyword with a space gap.
  • The order is very important for positional parameters. If we try to change the order of them, the JCL error occurs.

There are two positional parameters in the JOB card -

  • Accounting information.
  • Programmer name.

Accounting information and programmer name are independent and not dependent on any other.

Accounting information -


  • Accounting information is the billing name to which the CPU processing time for the entire job is billed.
  • It should code as the first parameter in the JOB card and should follow the JOB keyword with a space after it.
  • It is mandatory and should enclose with ().
  • It may change from project to project.
  • Users can only submit a JOB with accounting information in it.
  • Multiple account numbers can be coded in JOB card. However, the total parameter length should not exceed 143 characters.

Syntax -

----+----1----+---2---+---3---+----4----+---5---+
//job-name JOB ([account-info1][,accounting-info2]...),
//             'programmers-name',
//             keyword-parameters
accounting-info1, accounting-info2, ... Specifies installation defined accounting information.

Example - JOB (@POSPARM) with ACCT123 as accounting information.

//@POSPARM  JOB (ACCT123),'PAWAN Y',NOTIFY=&SYSUID

Programmer name -


  • The programmer name is used to identify who is responsible for the specific job.
  • It is optional and can be a user-defined name.
  • The name allows the combination of alphabets and numbers.
  • It should follow the accounting information with a comma(,) and enclose with single quote(').
  • The programmer name maximum length is 20 characters excluding single quote(').
  • It is an optional parameter and can be replaced by a comma or space between quotes.

Syntax -

//JOB-NAME JOB (ACCT001),
//             'programmers-name',keyword-parameters
Programmers-name Specifies the programmer name.

Example - JOB (@POSPARM) with 'PAWAN Y' as programmer name.

//@POSPARM  JOB (ACCT123),'PAWAN Y',NOTIFY=&SYSUID