Each parameter element contains the actual value of a parameter that was specified in the declaration of the requested output message. The first parameter element refers to parameter <1>, the second to parameter <2>, and so on.

The following method is used to find the requested message so that it can be completed.

First, an initial language in which to search for the message must be selected. If a language specification is given as a parameter to the MESSAGESEARCHER statement, that language is selected; otherwise, the language in the language specification of the task requesting the message is used. If the task does not have a language specification, the system default language is used.

If the requested message cannot be found in the initial language and the initial language is not the system default language, the message is searched for in the system default language. If the message still cannot be found, then the message is searched for in the languages that exist in the specified output message array, beginning with the first language, the second language, and so on. If none of the languages in the output message array contains the message, an error message that specifies the message number is produced in place of the message.