Using COND in JCL on both JOB and EXEC - mainframe

Question

I am trying to get my head around using the COND statement in JCL on both the JOB step and the EXEC step. My aim is as follows:
All steps must complete with zero return code
Unless explicitly indicated for a particular step
The job should stop when a step completes with a return code not expected
Mostly, all steps will complete with zero, so it is the unusual path to have the over-ride. I don't want to have to code COND on each EXEC step to cover the normal zero case.
I had hoped that the following would do this, but I think the priority of COND on the JOB step appears to over-ride COND on an EXEC step.
//MYJOB JOB ,COND=(0,NE)
//JOBLIB DD DSN=...
// DD DSN=...
//STEP1 EXEC PGM=MYPGM1
//STEP2 EXEC PGM=MYPGM2
//STEP3 EXEC PGM=MYPGM3,COND=(8,NE,STEP2)
//STEP4 EXEC PGM=MYPGM4
//
Is there any way to code this without doing the following:
//MYJOB JOB
//JOBLIB DD DSN=...
// DD DSN=...
//STEP1 EXEC PGM=MYPGM1
//STEP2 EXEC PGM=MYPGM2,COND=(0,NE,STEP1)
//STEP3 EXEC PGM=MYPGM3,COND=(8,NE,STEP2)
//STEP4 EXEC PGM=MYPGM4,COND=(0,NE,STEP3)
//

Answer 1

According to the JCL Language Reference manual the system first checks the condition specified on the job card. If this is met the job terminates otherwise it then checks the cond code on the step.
FWIW I have always seen step condition codes and not JOB condition codes.

Answer 2

Going by your dot pointed criteria your options are to code step based CONDs (which you have already discerned) or to use IF...THEN...ELSE...ENDIF statements around blocks of steps that you want to prevent from running based on return codes. IFs are much easier to code and read than CONDs although they are more verbose.
For example, this job uses IDCAMS to force a return code via the SET LASTCC command. The underscore is an integer up to 16, any higher will simply yield 16.
I have wrapped steps in 2 IF...ENDIF blocks. See below for output using RCs that trigger each outcome.
Command ===> Scroll ===> CSR
000001 //MYJOB JOB (AA-1234),MYJOB,CLASS=P,MSGCLASS=X,REGION=0M,
000002 // NOTIFY=&SYSUID
000003 //*
000004 //STEP1 EXEC PGM=IDCAMS
000005 //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
000006 //SYSIN DD *
000007 SET LASTCC=_
000008 /*
000009 //IF1 IF RC EQ 0 THEN
000010 //STEP2 EXEC PGM=IDCAMS
000011 //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
000012 //SYSIN DD *
000013 SET LASTCC=_
000014 /*
000015 //IF2 IF STEP2.RC LT 8 THEN
000016 //STEP3 EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
000017 //STEP4 EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
000018 //STEP5 EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
000019 //EIF2 ENDIF
000020 //EIF1 ENDIF
****** ******************************** Bottom of Data ********************************
Will yield the following:
When I set the LASTCC value of STEP1 to 4 and STEP2 to any :
14.03.41 JOB26149 IEF403I MYJOB - STARTED - TIME=14.03.41
14.03.41 JOB26149 GSDMV20I -JOBNAME STEPNAME PROCSTEP CCODE ELAPSED-TIME CPU-TIME STEPNO
14.03.41 JOB26149 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP1 4 00:00:00 0.02S 1
14.03.41 JOB26149 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP2 FLUSH 00:00:00 0.00S 2
14.03.41 JOB26149 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP3 FLUSH 00:00:00 0.00S 3
14.03.41 JOB26149 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP4 FLUSH 00:00:00 0.00S 4
14.03.41 JOB26149 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP5 FLUSH 00:00:00 0.00S 5
14.03.41 JOB26149 IEF404I MYJOB - ENDED - TIME=14.03.41
14.03.41 JOB26149 $HASP395 MYJOB ENDED - RC=0004
When I set the the LASTCC value of STEP1 to 0 and STEP2 to 4 :
14.02.40 JOB26136 IEF403I MYJOB - STARTED - TIME=14.02.40
14.02.40 JOB26136 GSDMV20I -JOBNAME STEPNAME PROCSTEP CCODE ELAPSED-TIME CPU-TIME STEPNO
14.02.40 JOB26136 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP1 0 00:00:00 0.03S 1
14.02.41 JOB26136 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP2 4 00:00:00 0.02S 2
14.02.41 JOB26136 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP3 0 00:00:00 0.00S 3
14.02.41 JOB26136 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP4 0 00:00:00 0.00S 4
14.02.41 JOB26136 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP5 0 00:00:00 0.00S 5
14.02.41 JOB26136 IEF404I MYJOB - ENDED - TIME=14.02.41
14.02.41 JOB26136 $HASP395 MYJOB ENDED - RC=0004
When I set the the LASTCC value of STEP1 to 0 and STEP2 to 8 :
13.59.41 JOB25747 IEF403I MYJOB - STARTED - TIME=13.59.41
13.59.41 JOB25747 GSDMV20I -JOBNAME STEPNAME PROCSTEP CCODE ELAPSED-TIME CPU-TIME STEPNO
13.59.41 JOB25747 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP1 0 00:00:00 0.03S 1
13.59.41 JOB25747 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP2 8 00:00:00 0.01S 2
13.59.41 JOB25747 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP3 FLUSH 00:00:00 0.00S 3
13.59.41 JOB25747 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP4 FLUSH 00:00:00 0.00S 4
13.59.41 JOB25747 GSDMV21I -MYJOB STEP5 FLUSH 00:00:00 0.00S 5
13.59.41 JOB25747 IEF404I MYJOB - ENDED - TIME=13.59.41
13.59.41 JOB25747 $HASP395 MYJOB ENDED - RC=0008
Hope this helps in some way.

Answer 3

You're asking if there is any way to accmomplish what you want. Here is one using an instream procedure:
//jobname JOB .....
//*
//* --- Start of instream procedure -----------------------------------
//*
//$EXEC PROC $PGM=,$PARM=,$COND=(0,NE)
//PS EXEC PGM=&$PGM,PARM=&$PARM,COND=(&$COND)
// PEND
//*
//* --- End of instream procedure -------------------------------------
//*
//STEP01 EXEC $EXEC,$PGM=MYPGM1
//* add any DD statements for MYPGM1 hereafter
//*
//STEP02 EXEC $EXEC,$PGM=MYPGM2
//* add any DD statements for MYPGM2 hereafter
//*
//STEP03 EXEC $EXEC,$PGM=MYPGM3,$COND=(8,NE,STEP02.PS)
//* add any DD statements for MYPGM3 hereafter
//*
//STEP04 EXEC $EXEC,$PGM=MYPGM4
//* add any DD statements for MYPGM4 hereafter
//*
The instream prodecure has COND=(0,NE) on the EXEC, so this applies to any step executing that procedure. Using the $COND procedure parameter, you can override on any step as needed. Note that the actual step is now a procedure step, so COND= needs you to specify the step ("STEPnn" here), and the procedure step (always "PS" in this sample).