HELP: Name/URL of the files to be compressed [STREAM(STDIN)] TYPE: STRING SYNTAX: FLAMIN/FLAMI['str'/STREAM/DUMMY...]
This parameter specifies the files to be compressed.
This parameter defines the default name for the input file during the compression procedure. The input specification is a file specification. It must name a single file uniquely an may not contain patterns (wildcards).
Note that when a default name is defined, stdin and pipelines can no longer be used for flamin.
With flamin=none, the default value for this parameter is dropped.
Syntax restrictions for FLAMv4 or older:
FLAMIN=filenameFLAMI=filename-flamin=input specificationflamin="name of original files"*DUMMYSpecifying a filename is an alternative to assigning the file by means
of a DD statement. The specification can contain a conversion rule for
filenames. The name can be specified in wildcard syntax for
decompression. The character > in front of the filename means that the
flamfile contains a list of filenames to be decompressed. DUMMY acts
like the DD-statement //.. DD DUMMY
In principle, FLAM is able to process all filenames via JCL valid in z/OS. FLAM stores the name of the compressed file into the FLAMFILE, if required. To avoid any conflicts with national character sets or naming conventions in other systems, all filenames stored in ASCII character set are translated for message and selection in the following way:
All national characters are translated to 'X', a backslash '\' to slash
'/', and whitespace ' ' to underline '_'. So it is easier to enter
foreign filenames that are unsupported in the z/OS environment. The
filename itself remains unchanged in the FLAMFILE. Entering DUMMY as
a filename causes FLAM to use this file as dummy like the JCL command
//ddname DD DUMMY. I.e. reading an input file leads to EOF (end of
file), writing to an output file has no effect. So, DD-statements are
not necessary for DUMMY files.
By prefixing the '>' character (greater than) to the filename or
DD-NAME, the FLAM parameters FLAMIN and IDDN are able to specify a
list of files for compression instead of one single file. It is also
possible to specify a file list for decompression by means of the
FLAMFILE or FLAMDD parameter. In this list, each filename must be
contained in a separate record; leading or trailing space characters
(X'40') are ignored. A comment can be inserted after the first space
character following the filename. Empty records or records with an
asterisk '*' in the first column are regarded as comment lines.
All filenames usable in z/OS are legal. Wildcard syntax is allowed.
USER.DAT.PS USER.VSAM.ESDS USER.POLIB.* USER.PO(MEMBER)
the specification
//... EXEC PGM=FLAM, // PARM=´C,FLAMIN=>USER.DAT.LIST´
leads to all the files specified being compressed into one FLAMFILE (group file).
The file that contains the list of filenames can have any format supported by FLAM and be of any type.
For 'in-stream files', i.e. input files temporarily created by JES, it is advisable to assign the filenames by means of DD names:
//... EXEC PGM=FLAM,PARM=´C,IDDN=>DDNAME´ //DDNAME DD * USER.DAT.PS USER.VSAM.ESDS USER.POLIB.* USER.PO(MEMBER) /*
This allows the filename list to be specified directly in the job.
Filenames can be specified in FLAM by means of parameters written with
wildcard syntax. Correspondingly, the entry FLAMIN=USER.*.DATA.%BC
leads to the compression of all files with the 1st qualifier USER, any
2nd qualifier, DATA as the third part of their name, and a three-digit
4th qualifier which ends with BC and begins with any character. The
asterisk "*" stands for any (even an empty) character string. The
percent character "%" stands for any character. These special characters
are also allowed within members of one or more PO libraries:
USER.POLIB(FL*)
specifies all members of the library USER.POLIB, that begin with FL;
USER.*D.LIB(A%%B)
specifies all members whose 4-digit names begin with A and end with B and whose libraries have the identification USER, LIB as their final qualifier, and D as the last character of the second to the last part of their name. All input files are stored in this way in one compressed file (group file). Correspondingly, the wildcard entry in the selection rule for decompression
FLAMOUT=USER.DAT.*LIB
leads to the decompression of only those items of compressed data whose
original names conform to the syntax specified. (Comment: this procedure
requires a FLAM file header (HEADER=YES) and the file information
FILEINFO=YES) for compression).
C,FLAMFILE=USER.DAT.CMP,FLAMIN=USER.*B.*LIB,...
All files with names that conforming to the FLAMIN specification are to be compressed into the file USER.DAT.CMP.
If the files
USER.DATA.ALIB USER.DATAB.BLIB USER.DATCB.CLIB USER.DATCB.DLIB
are catalogued, the 1st file does not conform to the wildcard syntax and is ignored during compression.
If
$$D,FLAMFILE=USER.DAT.CMP,FLAMOUT=USER.DATCB.*LIB$$
is now specified for decompression, only the files USER.DATCB.CLIB and
USER.DATCB.DLIB will be decompressed. Correspondingly, it is also
possible to select a number of FLAMFILEs for decompression:
..D,FLAMFILE=USER.CMP.*.VR8,...
means all FLAMFILEs with the identification USER, CMP as their 2nd qualifier, any character string as the 3rd part of their name and VR8 as their last qualifier are to be decompressed.
If the input specification contains more than one element, the following rules regarding syntax and assignment to the FLAMFILE specifications must be obeyed.
The input specification may consist of a file or directory name, a
pattern (with wildcards), or a list of such elements. Elements of a list
are separated by commas. Filenames may contain space characters, but not
as first characters. Filnames containing spaces must be enclosed in
double quotes. The files specified as input files must actually exist.
At least one matching file must exist for a pattern. Otherwise, the
flam command will be aborted and an error message output. If the input
specification specifies files for processing by FLAM, either the
-flamin parameter or -flamfile must be specified for the compression
or decompression procedure respectively. If the data is to be entered
via the special stdin file, the parameter for the input specification is
omitted. FLAM can thus be used as a filter.
If the flam command contains several different input and output
specifications, they are assigned to one another. The assignment
determines where the compressed data of each original file and the
decompressed data of each compressed file is saved.
The input and output specifications are assigned to one another by
means of their positions in the lists. The first input specification is
assigned to the first output specification and the second input
specification to the second output specification, etc. If there are more
input specifications than output specifications, the excess input
specifications are assigned to the final output specification. If there
are too many output specifications, the excess ones are ignored.
If the output specification is a file specification, all the outputs
which result from processing the assigned input files are saved in this
file. The file attributes must be compatible.
If the output specification is a substitution rule, a separate FLAMFILE,
which is named according to this rule, is created during the compression
procedure for each of the assigned input files.
During the decompression procedure, the substitution rule is applied to
the names of the FLAMFILEs and not to the names of the compressed
original files, i.e. each FLAMFILE results in a separate decompressed
file. If a FLAMFILE which contains the compressed data of several
different files is assigned an output file, all the compressed data in
this FLAMFILE is decompressed into the output file. The output
specification [] or [*] is then necessary in order to create separate
files again. In this case, each compressed block is decompressed into a
file with the original name.
In the example below, the flam command contains a list of
input specifications and a list of output specifications.
flam -compress -attributes=all -flamin=*.dat,*.txt,func1.hlp,func2.hlp -flamfile=[.dat=.cmp],text.arc,[hlp=xyz]
The list of input specifications contains four entries, namely the
output specifications, two substitution rules and a file specification.
In accordance with the assignment rules, a file with the same name and
a .cmp extension is created for each file which has a .dat extension,
and the compressed data of all the files with a .txt extension is saved
in a single FLAMFILE called text.arc. The compressed data of func1.hlp
is saved in func1xyz on account of the substitution rule contained in
the final output specification. Since there are no further output
specifications, this rule is also applied to func2.hlp, i.e. a
FLAMFILE called func2xyz is created for its compressed data.
It should be noted that text.arc can only be decompressed into separate
files if -attributes=all is specified for the compression procedure,
so that the names of all the original files are included in the
FLAMFILE. Either of the output specifications [] or [*] can be
used for the decompression procedure, to ensure that the files are
decompressed separately and given their original names again. If an
output file were to be specified, a single file would result, in which
all the records of the original files would be concatenated.
STREAM - Read from stdin or write to stdoutDUMMY - Read EOF or write nothing