KEYOPTS - key options for the BSORT command.
(+|-)ASCending (+) (+|-)DEScending (-)
(+|-)Error (+) (+|-)IgnoreLeading (-)
FRom=position Before=position
Field=number IgnoreLeading=string
Length=length Offset=position
SKip=string STop=string
Key-Strings
Key-strings may be given on the command line following the
"Key=" option or in a keyfile named with the
"KeyFile=" option. Key-strings which contain blanks
must be surrounded by double or single quotes. If a string within
the key-string also contains blanks, the string must be enclosed
in single or double quotes, whichever is NOT being used to
enclose the entire key-string. (You may also double the quote
character, e.g.
key="+des,skip="":"",+octal"
to obtain quotes inside quotes.)
Key-strings are made up of a number of items describing a
single sorting key. These items may be separated by commas or
blanks.
The following key-options may appear as items in a key-string.
The "+" character that precedes some options may be
omitted if desired.
Order Options
- +ASCending
- indicates that the particular key should be sorted in
ascending order. This is the default. Specifying this for
a single key overrides +ASCending or +DEScending on the
command line.
- +DEScending
- indicates that the particular key should be sorted in
descending order. Specifying this for a single key
overrides +ASCending or +DEScending on the command line.
Key Location Options
- FRom=position
- indicates that the key starts from the given position in
the record. For example, "from=10" indicates
that the key begins in column 10 of the record. The many
ways of specifying a "position" within a record
are described in a later section; suffice it to say that
the position can be described according to words, bytes,
bits, etc. The default is "fr=0" so that the
key begins at the very start of the record.
- Before=position
- indicates that the key is located before the given
position in the record. The default for
"position" is the length of the record, so that
the key may be anything before the end of the record.
- Length=length
- specifies the length of the key. This length takes the
same form as "position" within records (so that
it can be given in bits, bytes, words, etc.). The default
length normally includes everything up to the
"Before=" position; however, if
"Field=" is specified for the key, the default
length includes everything up to the end of the field (as
indicated by the characters in the "STop="
string -- see below).
Key-Field Scanning Options
BSORT provides facilities which allow you to parse records
into fields which may then be used as sort keys.
- STop=string
- gives a string which contains all the characters which
may be considered to mark the end of a field. For
example,
stop=":"
indicates that fields in the record are delimited by
colons. If "STop=" is not specified for a
particular key-field, the default is the
"STop=" specified on the command line. When
"STop=" is used in a key-string, the
"Field=" option must also be specified.
- SKip=string
- gives a string which contains all the characters which
may be skipped before beginning to search for the field.
For example,
skip=":"
indicates that BSORT should skip over extraneous
colons before beginning to collect the key. If
"SKip=" is not specified for a particular
key-field, the default is the "SKip=" specified
on the command line. When "SKip=" is used in a
key-string, the "Field=" option must also be
specified.
- IgnoreLeading=string
- gives a string which contains all the characters which
may be ignored at the beginning of a key-field after the
"skip" characters have been skipped. For
example,
il=" "
indicates that BSORT should ignore blanks which appear
at the beginning of the key-field. The
"IgnoreLeading=" option may be used even if
"Field=" is not specified for the key.
- +IgnoreLeading
- indicates that BSORT should use the default
"IgnoreLeading=" string specified on the
command line. This option may be used even if
"Field=" is not specified for the key.
- -IgnoreLeading
- indicates that BSORT should not ignore any characters
once a key-field has been located. This option may be
used even if "Field=" is not specified for the
key. This is the default.
- Offset=position
- indicates that the key begins at the given offset from
the beginning of the field, once the "skip"
characters and the "ignore" characters have
been skipped. The default is zero.
- Field=number
- indicates which field you want to be the actual key. For
example,
field=3,stop=":"
indicates that you want the third field of a record in
which fields are delimited by colons. BSORT will find
this third field in the following way.
The first field begins at the start of the record. To
find the second field, BSORT skips over "SKip="
characters in this first field and then looks for the
first "STop=" character. The second field
begins immediately after this "stop" character.
BSORT will skip over skip characters in this second
field, then start looking for another "stop"
character. The third field begins immediately after this
second "stop" character. BSORT will then ignore
"IgnoreLeading=" characters at the beginning of
this third field until the actual key is found.
Miscellaneous Key Options
- -Error
- indicates that the entire record should NOT be marked as
erroneous even if this particular key is in error. The
default is +Error.
See Also:
- expl bsort
- full description of BSORT
- expl bsort batch
- using BSORT in batch
- expl bsort collate
- collating orders
- expl bsort errors
- error handling
- expl bsort examples
- examples of BSORT operations
- expl bsort notes
- miscellaneous notes
- expl bsort options
- general command line options
- expl bsort position
- key position descriptors
Copyright © 1996, Thinkage Ltd.