20 Asked JCL Interview Questions and Answers (2024)

Ques 1. What is JCL?

JCL stands for Job Control Language. It is a scripting language used on IBM mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on how to run a batch job or start a subsystem.

Example:

//JOBNAME JOB ...,CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X

Ques 2. Explain the purpose of the EXEC statement in JCL.

The EXEC statement is used to specify the name of the program or procedure that is to be executed as part of a job step in JCL.

Example:

//STEP1 EXEC PGM=IEFBR14

Ques 3. What is a DD statement in JCL?

DD (Data Definition) statement is used to define input and output datasets for a program or job step in JCL.

Example:

//INPUT DD DSN=INPUT.FILE,DISP=SHR

Ques 4. Explain the significance of JOB and EXEC in JCL.

JOB defines the overall job and its characteristics, while EXEC defines a job step and the program or procedure to be executed within that step.

Example:

//JOBNAME JOB ...,CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X
//STEP1 EXEC PGM=IEFBR14

Ques 5. What is a COND parameter in JCL?

COND is a parameter used to conditionally execute a job step based on the completion status of a previous step.

Example:

//STEP2 EXEC PGM=XYZ,COND=(4,LT)