CPF3142: File not found

What it means

CPF3142 is an escape message with the text "File &1 in library &3 not found." The Clear Physical File Member (CLRPFM) command lists it among its errors, so it turns up most in CL programs that clear work files.

When a command names a file, it either gives the library, as in ACCTLIB/PAYMAST, or leaves it to the job's library list (*LIBL). With a library given, the system looks only there. With *LIBL it searches each library on the list in order and stops at the first match. CPF3142 means neither search found a file with that name.

Many other commands report the same problem with CPF9812, "File &1 in library &2 not found." The meaning is the same. Only the sending command differs. A program that fails to find a file when it opens it gets a third message, CPF4101.

Common causes

• The library that holds the file isn't on the library list of the job that ran the command. Batch jobs are the usual case, because the job description or the SBMJOB command can give them a different list from the interactive session that was tested.
• The file name or library name is mistyped, or a program builds the name and got it wrong.
• The file hasn't been created yet. A job stream that creates a work file in one step and clears it in another fails here when the steps run out of order or the create step was skipped.
• The file was in QTEMP of another job. Each job has its own QTEMP, so a submitted job can't see the QTEMP files of the job that submitted it.
• The file is in an independent ASP and the job isn't using that ASP group, so its libraries are invisible to the job.
• The file was deleted or renamed, or it was a test copy that was removed.

How to find the problem

1. Run DSPJOBLOG, put the cursor on CPF3142 and press F1 to see the file and library the command looked for.
2. Find every copy of the file: WRKOBJ OBJ(*ALL/PAYMAST) OBJTYPE(*FILE). If it lists nothing, the file doesn't exist on the system at all.
3. Compare the result with the job's library list. Run DSPLIBL in the job, or for a batch job look at the library list in its job log or in DSPJOB.
4. For batch work, check where the list came from. DSPJOBD shows the INLLIBL of the job description, and the SBMJOB command's INLLIBL parameter decides whether the job takes the caller's list or the job description's.
5. If the library sits in an independent ASP, check whether the job ran SETASPGRP, and whether the ASP device is varied on.

How to fix it

• Qualify the name with its library on the command, for example CLRPFM FILE(ACCTLIB/PAYMAST), when the file always lives in the same place.
• Add the missing library to the job's library list with ADDLIBLE, or correct the INLLIBL of the job description used by the batch job.
• Create the file before the step that uses it, or check for it first with CHKOBJ and create it when CPF9801 comes back.
• If the file is optional for this step, monitor for it: MONMSG MSGID(CPF3142) right after the command.
• For files in an independent ASP, have the job run SETASPGRP before it touches them.

What it looks like

File PAYMAST in library ACCTLIB not found.

DSPMSGD MSGID(CPF3142) MSGF(QSYS/QCPFMSG)

Technical reviewer: Albert Joseph, WND Software.

Last reviewed 2026-10-18 by the WND Software team. Written in our own words. For the full reference, check IBM’s documentation for your IBM i release.