When working with compound variables, it is often useful to initialize an entire collection of variables to the same value. You can do this easily by using an assignment that includes a stem. For example, number.=0 initializes all array elements in the array named number. to 0.
employee. = 'Nobody'
employee.='Nobody'
SAY employee.5 /* Produces 'Nobody' */
SAY employee.10 /* Produces 'Nobody' */
SAY employee.oldest /* Produces 'Nobody' */
employee.new = 'Clark, Evans'
SAY employee.new /* Produces 'Clark, Evans' */
You can use stems with the EXECIO and RFS commands when reading to and writing from a file. See section EXECIO for information about EXECIO. See section RFS for information about RFS. RFS is the preferred I/O method under CICS.