IBM Mainframe Forum

Hi,
I would like to know if anyone knows of a way to use a dataset that contains the names of multiple other datasets as an input for a dd statement. As a simple example I have a dataset that contains a list of 2000 other dataset names that I want to use as input list for a job that merges all the contents of the 2000 datasets into 1. I can do it with with third party scheduling and automation products and with rexx but I want to know if anyone knows of a way to do it with standard ibm utilities or general jcl?
Regards,
Me

No.

There is a limit to the number of DD statements that can be present in a job; depending upon your site parameters, 2000 file allocations in a job or TSO session could exceed that limit. If this is the case, there is no standard JCL nor utility that could possibly do what you want. In such a case, you'd have to use dynamic allocation for each data set, then free the data set after the close before allocating the next data set -- or you'd run into the DD limit again.