setvar hpmsgfence,2

before the listfile. If you build the file ahead of time and using a file
reference, then if your pattern does not find any files, you will end up
with an empty file. If you create the file on the fly (as in listfile
PATTERN,6 > mymsg) then no file will be created if there is no match.

BTW, be sure to set hpmsgfence back to zero.

HTH, John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ric Merz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2000 11:40 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [HP3000-L] LISTFILE ,6 Question
>
>
> To All,
>
> I am looking for a "clean" solution to the following problem.
>  It must be in MPE/iX JCL.  Please, no 3rd party software solutions.
>
> I am using ListFile ,6 >*MyMsg to create a list of files to
> process.  This works great, except when there aren't any
> files in the target directory that match my selection.  Then
> I get two records in my msg file telling me the ListFile
> command and the fact that there aren't any files found.  This
> is a pain to test for (using cierror 920).
>
> Is there a ListFile option that will only display the file
> names selected, and provide an empty file when none of the
> files matches the selection?  This would make scripting much
> easier.  (Don't you just hate it when commands do things
> other than what the documentation says they do!!!!!?)
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Ric
> [log in to unmask]
>