IDCAMS LASTCC and MAXCC

What’s LASTCC and MAXCC?

They are IDCAMS return codes, (or condition codes); they can only be used in IDCAMS control card.
-  LASTCC stores the condition code for the previous command.
-  MAXCC stores the maximum code returned by all previous commands.
-  Both LASTCC and MAXCC contain zero by default at the start of IDCAMS execution. so the "set MAXCC=8" command in one JCL step will not affect the MAXCC value at the beginning next JCL step.


Take an example:

//TESTIDCC JOB CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X,MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID//*-----------------------------------------------------------------//STEP01   EXEC PGM=IDCAMS//SYSOUT   DD  SYSOUT=*//SYSPRINT DD  SYSOUT=*//SYSUDUMP DD  SYSOUT=*//SYSIN  DD   *                                                           SET MAXCC = 2/*//*-----------------------------------------------------------------//STEP02   EXEC PGM=IDCAMS//SYSOUT   DD  SYSOUT=*//SYSPRINT DD  SYSOUT=*//SYSUDUMP DD  SYSOUT=*//SYSIN  DD   *                                                           IF MAXCC = 2 THEN    -     ALLOCATE DATASET('<UID>.TEST.DATA.MAXCC') -         LRECL(80) -        RECFM(F B) -        BLKSIZE(800) -        SPACE(1,1) CYL/*

In this case <UID>.TEST.DATA.MAXCC will NOT be created.

What’s valid values for LASTCC and MAXCC?

LASTCC and MAXCC can be set to any value between 0-16;, following are typical values:
- 0 : command executed with no errors
- 4 : warning - execution may go successful
- 8 : serious error - execution may fail
- 12 : serious error - execution impossible
- 16 : fatal error - job step terminates

How to change LASTCC and MAXCC value?

IDCAMS command “set MAXCC/LASTCC=value”
- Setting MAXCC has no effect on LASTCC.
- Setting LASTCC changes the value of MAXCC, if LASTCC is set to a value larger than MAXCC.