What happens when we put a comment line before the job card

I remember once being asked a question that what happens when we put a comment line before a job card. I was unable to answer the question for the fact that I had never tried this. :D

I had an idea to document the result:

The answer is it will always ask for the job name characters.

I have used the spool job from my last post as below:

SDSF EDIT    NUMHP53A (JOB31500) JCLEDIT                   Columns 00001 00072 Command ===>   sub;;                                          Scroll ===> PAGE ****** ***************************** Top of Data ****************************** 000001 //*COMMENTLINE                                                          000002 //NUMHP53A JOB ,'SYNC',MSGCLASS=Q,MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID         000003 //STEP01         EXEC PGM=SORT                                                000004 //SORTIN        DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA1,                                000005 //                     DISP=SHR                                                   000006 //                     DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA2,                                000007 //                     DISP=SHR                                                  000008 //                     DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA3,                                000009 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000010 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA4,                                000011 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000012 //                     DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA5,                                000013 //                   DISP=SHR

  

Result:

SDSF EDIT    NUMHP53A (JOB31500) JCLEDIT                   Columns 00001 00072   Command ===>   sub;;                                          Scroll ===> PAGE   ****** ***************************** Top of Data ******************************  000001 //*COMMENTLINE                                                           000002 //NUMHP53A JOB ,'SYNC',MSGCLASS=Q,MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID          000003 //STEP01         EXEC PGM=SORT                                                 000004 //SORTIN         DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA1,                                 000005 //                      DISP=SHR                                                   000006 //                      DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA2,                                 000007 //                      DISP=SHR                                                   000008 //                      DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA3,                                 000009 //                      DISP=SHR                                                   000010 //                      DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA4,                                 000011 //                      DISP=SHR                                                   000012 //                      DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA5,                                 000013 //                      DISP=SHR                                                   000014 //                     DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA6,                                 000015 //                     DISP=SHR                                                   000016 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA7,                                  ENTER JOBNAME CHARACTER(S) -                                                                                                                                     ENTER JOBNAME CHARACTER(S) -

2. Now what happens if we just give a line before jobcard.

SDSF EDIT    NUMHP53A (JOB31500) JCLEDIT                   Columns 00001 00072 Command ===>       sub;;                                      Scroll ===> PAGE ****** ***************************** Top of Data ****************************** 000001 //COMMENTLINE                                                            000002 //NUMHP53A JOB ,'SYNC',MSGCLASS=Q,MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID         000003 //STEP01         EXEC PGM=SORT                                                000004 //SORTIN        DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA1,                                000005 //                     DISP=SHR                                                  000006 //                     DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA2,                                000007 //                     DISP=SHR                                                  000008 //                     DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA3,                                000009 //                     DISP=SHR                                                  000010 //                     DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA4,                                000011 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000012 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA5,                                000013 //                    DISP=SHR                                                   000014 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA6,                                000015 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000016 //                   DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA7,                                 ENTER JOBNAME CHARACTER(S) -

3. What happens when we give just a line (without //) before jobcard:

SDSF EDIT    NUMHP53A (JOB31500) JCLEDIT                   Columns 00001 00072 Command ===>   sub;;                                          Scroll ===> PAGE ****** ***************************** Top of Data ****************************** 000001 COMMENTLINE                                                             000002 //NUMHP53A JOB ,'SYNC',MSGCLASS=Q,MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID         000003 //STEP01         EXEC PGM=SORT                                                000004 //SORTIN        DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA1,                                000005 //                      DISP=SHR                                                  000006 //                      DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA2,

Result:

SDSF EDIT    NUMHP53A (JOB37533) JCLEDIT                   Columns 00001 00072 Command ===> sub;;                                            Scroll ===> PAGE ****** ***************************** Top of Data ****************************** 000001 COMMENT                                                                  000002 //NUMHP53A JOB ,'SYNC',MSGCLASS=Q,MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID         000003 //STEP01        EXEC PGM=SORT                                                000004 //SORTIN        DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA1,                                 000005 //                     DISP=SHR                                                  000006 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA2,                                000007 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000008 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA3,                                000009 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000010 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA4,                                000011 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000012 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA5,                                000013 //                    DISP=SHR                                                  000014 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA6,                                000015 //                   DISP=SHR                                                  000016 //                    DD DSN=NUMHP53.MAITREE.DATA7,                                ENTER JOBNAME CHARACTER(S) -