MVSFORUMS.com

[maverick]

In the basic form of use of IEBGENER for copying one file to another, the copy-from dataset is defined in SYSUT1 and copy-to dataset in SYSUT2.
I'd like to know how multiple datasets are handled with IEBGENER.

When SYSUT1 has more than one dataset defined and SYSUT2 has one, are the two datasets merged and copied into the output dataset?.
What if SYSUT1 and SYSUT2 both have two datasets defined (in case that's a possible option)?

In other cases, there are multiple SYSUTs i.e. SYSUT1, SYSUT2, SYSUT3, SYSUT4 defined in the same step. In such cases SYSUT1 is copied to SYSUT2, and SYSUT3 is copied to SYSUT4 (I hope I am correct here). In such cases, how does IEBGENER identify which is the copy-to and which is the copy-from dataset? Alternate SYSUTs??

In case of copying one dataset to multiple datasets, is there a better way than to repeat the operation with each dataset?

[Frank Yaeger]

IEBGENER uses SYSUT1 (input) and SYSUT2 (output), although you can change those names when calling IEBGENER from a program. SYSUT1 can consist of concatenated data sets, e.g.

//SYSUT1 DD DSN=IN1,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=IN2,DISP=SHR

but SYSUT2 can only be one output data set.

When SYSUT1 has concatenated data sets, they are copied in order, e.g. in the example above the output data set would have the records from IN1 followed by the records from IN2.

I don't know about using SYSUT3 and SYSUT4 with IEBGENER.

If you want to copy one data set to multiple data sets, a better way is to use DFSORT or DFSORT's ICETOOL. For example, you can copy one input data set to three output data sets like this:

[maverick]

Thanks Frank.
About using SYSUT3 and SYSUT4 in the same step, I should have clarified that the program/utility used is MULTIGEN, although the code comments mention MULTIGEN and IEBGENER interchangeably. Perhaps it's a variation for handling multiple data sets.

[Raghav BVS]

IEBGENER provides the facility to copy one dataset to more than one dataset(s).
//sysut1 dd dsn=....
//sysut1a dd dsn=...
//sysut1b dd dsn=...
Also it can take more than one dataset as input, concatenate them and copy to one or more datasets.
//sysut1 dd dsn=...
// dd dsn=...
//sysut1a dd dsn=...
The only thing we should ensure is to make input and output names are related such as, if input starts with sysut1 then it is advised to name output dsn(s) as sysut1a, sysut1b etc.,

[maverick]

Raghav, running IEBGENER with SYSUT1A, SYSUT1B, etc. gives RC=12 with "IEB316I DDNAME SYSUT2 CANNOT BE OPENED".
IEBGENER cannot be run without using the key words SYSUT1 and SYSUT2.
There's a similar error message for SYSUT1 when a different name is used for the copy-from data set.