To answer this question, you need to understand the COND parameter in job control language (JCL) statements.
The COND parameter is used to specify a condition that determines whether a jobstep or job is to be executed. It takes the form of COND=(expression,condition), where expression is the condition to be evaluated and condition is the comparison operator.
In this case, you want the jobstep to be executed only if the previous jobstep has a return code of strictly less than 8. The correct option is A) COND=(8,LE).
Explanation for each option:
Option A) COND=(8,LE) - This option is correct because it specifies that the jobstep should be executed if the return code of the previous jobstep is less than or equal to 8. Since you want it to be strictly less than 8, this condition will be satisfied.
Option B) COND=(8,GE) - This option is incorrect because it specifies that the jobstep should be executed if the return code of the previous jobstep is greater than or equal to 8. This is the opposite of what you want.
Option C) COND=(8,LT) - This option is incorrect because it specifies that the jobstep should be executed if the return code of the previous jobstep is less than 8. This condition will not be satisfied if the return code is exactly 8.
Option D) COND=(8,GT) - This option is incorrect because it specifies that the jobstep should be executed if the return code of the previous jobstep is greater than 8. This condition will not be satisfied if the return code is less than or equal to 8.
Therefore, the correct answer is A) COND=(8,LE). This option ensures that the jobstep is executed only if the previous jobstep has a return code of strictly less than 8.