Symptom strings

Symptom strings display important diagnostic information in a structured format. When a symptom string is produced, it is available in one or more of the following places:

• On the z/OS system console

• In SYS1.LOGREC

• In any dump taken

Figure 1 shows an example of a symptom string.

Figure 1. Sample symptom string

PIDS/5655L8200 RIDS/CSQMAIN1 AB/S6C6 PRCS/0E30003

The symptom string provides a number of keywords that we can use to search the IBM software support database. If you have access to one of the optional search tools, we can search the database yourself. If you report a problem to the IBM support center, you are often asked to quote the symptom string. (For more information about searching the IBM software support database, refer to Finding solutions to similar problems.)

Although the symptom string is really designed to provide keywords for searching the database, it can also give you a lot of information about what was happening at the time the error occurred, and it might suggest an obvious cause or a promising area to start your investigation. See Building a keyword string for more information about keywords.