How variables are resolved

Variables can come from one of three sources:

  • SHARED variable pool of the BMC AMI Ops Automation BBI-SS PAS to which the TOM PAS is connected
  • MVS symbol list from the logical partition (LPAR) on which the TOM PAS is running
  • TOM reference variables for the object

Related topic

Using-variables-on-the-TOM-dialogs

For details of TOM reference variables, see List-of-object-reference-variables.

When you decide to enter a variable as part of an object definition, you must prefix the variable name with an ampersand (&). Depending on the source of the variable, the ampersand might be followed by another character before the variable name begins, for example:

  • A single ampersand (&) before the variable name indicates the variable will be resolved from values in the SHARED variable pool.
  • A double ampersand (&&) before the variable name indicates the variable will be resolved from the MVS symbol list.
  • A single ampersand followed by a single at sign (&@) before the variable name indicates the variable will be resolved from the list of the object's reference variables.
  • Enclosing the ampersand in double quotation marks (" ") indicates that it is not the beginning of a variable name and it should not be resolved.
  • The delimiters for a variable are either a blank space or a backward slash (\).
    When you delimit a variable with a blank space, a blank space follows the resolved variable value.
    When you delimit a variable with a backward slash, a blank space does not follow the resolved value.
S &@STCNAME\,JOBNAME=ABCDXYZ (backward slash as delimiter)

This example shows a blank as a delimiter between &@STCNAME and FIRST:

S &@STCNAME\ ,PARM=('&@STCNAME FIRST')

where STEPNAME has a value of AAOKMZ32 and STCNAME has a value of AAOKMZ01 and the command resolves to

S AAOKMZ32,PARM=('AAOKMZ01 FIRST')

Substring specification can be used on variables with the format: variable name:start position:length (varname:s:l).

S &&SYSNAME:2:3
&&SYSNAME:2:2 - If &&SYSNAME is SYSA, YS is the result.
&@STCNAME:3:4 - If &@STCNAME is SAVTAM01, VTAM is the result.
&QTOMID:1 - If &QTOMID is BMCTOM1, BMCTOM1 is the result.
&QTOMID:4 - If &QTOMID is BMCTOM1, TOM1 is the result
&&SYSNAME:2:2\blah - If &&SYSNAME is SYSA, YSblah is the result

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