COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.08+, J06.03+)

other attributes, of a file specified in the source program. This command is fully discussed in the
TACL Reference Manual.
When a process begins to execute, it can request its ASSIGN messages and use their contents to
modify the information it possesses about its files before opening them. During the initialization of
any process compiled from a COBOL source, the run-time routines automatically handle any
ASSIGN messages made available by the Guardian environment.
This partial syntax diagram of the ASSIGN command describes features of greatest interest to the
COBOL programmer:
program-name
is the program-name in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph in the Identification Division, for which
the file assignment is to take effect. This is distinct from the name of the loadfile. Do not specify
program-name for an external file.
*
means that the file assignment applies to all programs in the loadfile. You must not specify *
for an external file.
If neither program-name nor * is present, then cobol-file-name must be unique among
all programs in the loadfile.
cobol-file-name
is the COBOL file name in a SELECT clause, also called the fd-name.
system-file
name
is a spooler location or the name of a disk file, disk volume, tape device, DEFINE, process,
or terminal.
#IN, #OUT, #TERM, #TEMP, $RECEIVE
are explained in the usage considerations. They must be uppercase.
When only system-file is present, and all other clauses are omitted, the current file for
cobol-file-name is assigned.
ASSIGN Command 583