#### PARFILE

#### Synopsis

    HELP:   File with parameters for en/decryption.
    TYPE:   STRING
    SYNTAX: PARFILE/PARF/PAFILE/PARAMETER_FILE='str'

#### Description

This parameter specifies a file name containing FLAM parameters.

Specifying a parameter file permits default values to be overridden without the need for complex inputs in the command line.

This specified file can be created interactively using a text editor.

Syntax restrictions for FLAMv4 or older:

- z/OS
  - `PARFILE=parameter filename`
  - `PARF=parameter filename`
    - Note: Specifying the file name is an alternative to assigning the file by means of a DD statement. This file is needed only if additional parameters are to be read from a catalogued file.
- UNIX
  - `-parfile=parameter filename`
- WINDOWS
  - `parfile=parameter filename`

Values

- z/OS
  - Filename with max. 54 characters.
- UNIX
  - Path to a file containing FLAM parameters. Specifying a parameter file permits default values to be overridden without the need for complex inputs in the command line. One parameter file cannot refer to another, i.e. it may not contain a `parfile` specification. Furthermore, it may not change the `-show` parameter whose setting is determined when the command line is analyzed.
- WINDOWS
  - Path to a file that contains FLAM parameters.
    - Note: One parameter per line. The entries on the command line have a higher priority. At the end of line comments may be attached with '!'. Lines that begin with ; or ! are ignored.

Default

- no name

Valid for

- compression
- decompression

#### Priority Rules for FLAM Settings on Unix

Settings such as the type of operation (compress or decompress), the input/output files, etc., can be entered either directly in the flam command or explicitly in a parameter file. Implicit settings are also possible simply by omitting certain information, for example the compression mode for the compression procedure. The settings which apply automatically if any specifications are missing or redundant are determined by evaluating certain information in a fixed sequence; this results in an order of priorities, which is based both on the category and on the origin of the information. Since parameter files may refer to other parameter files, it is possible for several such files, possibly containing contradictory information, to be concatenated. The first of these parameter files has priority over all the others. If the same parameter is specified more than once within a parameter file, however, only the final specification is valid. The information which is used to determine the FLAM settings is evaluated in the following order:

- The command itself
- The parameter files
- The installed default values

If the command itself contains any contradictory or incompatible information, it is rejected and an error message is output.

The following priority rules apply in all other situations:

- If a FLAM operation is specified in the command (compress/decompress), it has priority over all the other specifications. If the command does not contain such a specification, a search is made for it in the parameter file if one is named by `-parfile=...` or by default. If the operation is not specified as a FLAM parameter either, the installed default value, i.e. the default operation, is taken instead.
- Any specifications which are incompatible with the FLAM operation are rejected.
- All specifications missing in the command are set according to the parameter file, if one is specified either in the command itself or as an installation-specific default value.
- All settings which cannot be established either at all or in part after rules 1 to 3 have been applied are determined on the basis of the installation-specific default values.
- If the input or output specification is missing, the special `stdin` and `stdout` files are used. In the case of FLAM parameters, specifications with a lower priority are always completely overridden by the higher priority, i.e. it is not possible to define a list of input specifications partly in the command itself and partly in the parameter file or in the form of default values. The list in the command cancels out the list at the lower specification level.