12.6.12 DISPOSE Specifier

The DISPOSE (or DISP) specifier indicates the status of the file after the unit is closed. It takes one of the following forms:

{ DISPOSE = dis }
{ DISP        = dis }

dis
Is a scalar default character expression that evaluates to one of the following values:

'KEEP' or 'SAVE'	Retains the file after the unit closes.
'DELETE'	Deletes the file after the unit closes.
'PRINT' 1	Submits the file to the system line printer spooler and retains it.
'PRINT/DELETE' 1	Submits the file to the system line printer spooler and then deletes it.
'SUBMIT'	Submits the file to the batch job queue and then retains it.
'SUBMIT/DELETE'	Submits the file to the batch job queue and then deletes it.
1 Use only on sequential files.

A read-only file cannot be deleted.

The default is 'DELETE' for scratch files; a scratch file cannot be saved, printed, or submitted. For all other files, the default is 'KEEP'.