>>> Don Stanley <dstanle@IBM.NET> writes >>> While I respect your opinion, I have to say that EVERY >>> MVS site I have worked in (about 7) have a site >>> standard that files must be allocated in JCL.

Well Don that's a very mono-centric view of a corporation's information infastructure. What if you had to maintain applications on MVS, VMS, and Windoze platforms? Using DD statements instead of libname and filename statements renders your code just that less portable. By using libname and filename statements, and interrogating the automatic &SYSCP macro variable, you at least have a fighting chance to produce portable code. I find heterogenous computing environments the norm these days, although I suspect there are plenty of MVS-only shops around as well.

Anyway, the dictionary tables ARE cool! - Jack