NBSpool for MPE Reference Guide

Chapter 2
2-6
Subset Parameters
The subset parameter is common to almost all of the NBSpool output commands. It is very flexible
and uses a wide range of values to define groups of spool files. Specifying a subset of spool files can
be accomplished using a variety of subset designators. Full use of the MPE wild card characters (
?
,
#
,
@
) are allowed. Numeric values may be specified individually or as a range. Ranges are from low
to high and are inclusive.
Important! Spool file subsets operate on
READY
spool files unless otherwise specified
or as described in individual command descriptions. Spool file states are checked at
the beginning of command execution.
More than one subset designator may be specified if separated by commas. If subset designators of
different types are specified the spool files must match both or all to be selected. If more than one
subset designator of the same kind is specified, such as two file name designators, a match on either
of them will be successful.
A match on any of the
NOT
designators will cause a spool file to be eliminated from selection. An
exception to this rule is if a
NOT
designator is specified for strings separated by the plus sign (
+
). In
this case, if a
NOT
string is found, only that subset designator will be eliminated. All other subset
criteria will be used.
If a subset range is optional and omitted, all spool files are used. String searching and forms
message searching can be considerably slower than other subsets since the spool files must be
searched individually.
Note. An ambiguity may occur when specifying spool file names such as
J123
or
S123
.
NBSpool will interpret these to search for matches on job/session number. If a spool
file has a name of
J
or
S
followed by all digits, use
FILE=J
123
or
FILE=S
123
to select it.
The
!PREV
subset designator is useful for passing the subset of one command to the next. Only the
spool files successfully altered (or copied, bannerized, etc.) will qualify for the
!PREV
subset. If a
command fails catastrophically, the
!PREV
subset will not contain any spool files.