What the $#@! is does ABEND 0E37 mean?

Lemmie guess, you were working with a dataset via ISPF and tried to save your work and got an 0E37 abend. Sound about right? Well don't fret, it's an easy fix. Any x37 abend is an error having to do with space. You're going to have to free some space.

One way to do this is to create a new, bigger data set for your stuff. You'll copy the old data set into the new one, and work with the copy. Ready? lets get started!

First, exit out of the dataset by entering CANCEL at the command line. You'll lose any changes you've made since your last save, so cut-and-paste anything critical. Go into the UTILITY menu, then into the DATA SET sub menu (option 3.2 at the command line). Get the attributes of the data set you were using by entering its name on the NAME field under the heading OTHER PARTITIONED, SEQUENTIAL OR VSAM DATA SET. Once you do this, you should see a screen listing the attributes of the Data Set you were working with. Exit out of this screen.

Now we're going to create a new data set. At the same line you entered your data set name, enter a name for your new data set. Before you hit enter, type A at the OPTION line. This tells the mainframe you want to allocate a new data set. Go ahead and hit Enter. You'll see the same attributes screen you saw before. Here's where you are going to make your changes. Increase the size of your data set, then hit enter. You should see a message that says the data set has been allocated. Exit out to the UTILITY menu.

Now we are going to copy your old data into the new data set. Go into the MOVE/COPY sub-menu in the UTILITY menu (option 3.3). Under the heading FROM OTHER PARTITIONED OR SEQUENTIAL DATA SET, on the line entitled NAME, enter the name of the data set from which you want to copy. Don't hit the ENTER key just yet.

*IMPORTANT!* If you do not enter this name in quotes, z/OS will attach your user name as a high-level qualifier. For example, if your username is JSMITH, and you enter PROGRAMS.WORKING as the dataset name (note the lack of quotes), z/OS will change the name you entered to JSMITH.PROGRAMS.WORKING.

Okay, now that you've got the correct data set name entered, go ahead and type C at the OPTION line and hit ENTER. Now the system will want to know where you want to place the copied files. Under the heading TO OTHER PARTITIONED OR SEQUENTIAL DATA SET, on the line entitled NAME, enter the name of the data set from which you want to copy. Hit the ENTER key.

Now you see a list of all the members of the data set from which you want to copy. Select the members you want to copy by entering S next to the member name. You can copy more than one member at a time by selecting multiple members before hitting the ENTER key. When you are done, exit out of this screen. Check your new data set to make sure the copy went alright (ISPF option 3.4). Once you are satisfied with how everything turned out, delete the old dataset and rename the new one (if your old dataset was called PROGRAMS.WORKING and you copied everything into PROGRAMS.WORKING.TEMP, we need to delete PROGRAMS.WORKING and rename PROGRAMS.WORKING.TEMP to PROGRAMS.WORKING).

Deleting and renaming data sets is fairly painless. Via ISPF option 3.4, enter the name of the old dataset on the line titled DSNAME LEVEL and hit ENTER. You should end up at the DSLIST panel. type DELETE at the command field (the space to the left of your dataset name). Once you've deleted the old dataset, you can rename the new one. Return to ISPF option 3.4 and enter the name of the new dataset and hit enter. At the command field type RENAME and hit ENTER. You will be asked to enter a new data set name. Type the name of the data set you just deleted and hit ENTER.

All done! Now you've got a bigger, badder data set to work with and you shouldn't have to worry about Abend 0E37 for a while :-)