OPTIONS - options for the BSORT command.

Options:

(+|-)ASCending (+)     (+|-)DEScending (-)
(+|-)Duplicate (+)     (+|-)Raw (+)
(+|-)Unique            (+|-)Verbose (-)
Error=code             IgnoreLeading=string
Key=key-string         KeyFile=file
MediaCode=code         Memorysize=number
RecordSize=words       RejectFile=file
SKip=string            STop=string
Workfiles=number (1)

+ASCending

indicates that the sorted output should be in ascending order. This is the default.

+DEScending

indicates that the sorted output should be in descending order.

-Duplicate

indicates that if there are several records with the same contents in their key fields, all but one of these should be discarded from the output. For example, if a file of students is being sorted by name and student number, the output will only contain one record with a given name and number; records which have the same name and number as a previous record will be deleted from the output. The default is +Duplicate, which leaves duplicate records intact.

-Raw

indicates that input records should be converted to ASCII as they are read in. Normally, input is just stored "as is". If the input is already in ASCII, there is almost no difference between +Raw and -Raw, except that +Raw records will include the standard RCW, etc.

+Unique

indicates that if there are several records with the same contents in their key fields, all of them should be discarded from the output. For example, if a file of students is being sorted by name and student number, the output will discard any collection of records that have the same name and number. Thus, +Unique discards all duplicates, while -Duplicate discards all but one copy of each duplicate.

-Unique

indicates that the only records that should appear in the output are ones whose key fields duplicate other records. Thus, all records with unique key fields are discarded. If both -Unique and -Duplicate are specified, BSORT discards all records with unique key fields (because of -Unique), then discards all but one copy of each duplicate record.

+Verbose

prints statistics about the sort process after it is finished. The default is -Verbose.

Error=code

indicates the action that should be taken for records found to be erroneous (e.g. the record was supposed to have a key beginning at character 20, but the record is only 10 characters long). The following codes are recognized.

Stop: stop processing if an erroneous record is found.
Report: print a message on the terminal whenever an erroneous record is found. This message notes the source of the record if there is more than one input file.
Ignore: ignore the fact that the record is erroneous. This is the default. The record will be included in the sorting process as if it was not in error -- for more details about this, see the section below on "Error Handling".
First: cause all records with erroneous keys to appear before anything else in the sorted output. Thus the erroneous records will be sorted as well as possible amongst themselves, then placed at the beginning of the output.
Last: cause all records with erroneous keys to appear after everything else in the sorted output. Thus the erroneous records will be sorted as well as possible amongst themselves, then placed at the end of the output.

IgnoreLeading=string

specifies a default set of characters to be ignored when parsing records to find key-fields. By default, "string" is " *t*n" so that leading blanks, tabs, and new-lines are ignored. For further information, see the description of key-fields below.

Key=key-string

specifies a key-string which describes a key to be used in the sorting. Possible formats for key-strings are described below. If there is no "Key=" specified for a sort, the entire record will be used as a key; otherwise, there should be one "Key=" specification for every key used in the sorting process. For example, if a file of students is to be sorted by student name, and student number within name, there must be a "Key=" describing where the name is found in each record and a second "Key=" describing where the student number is found. The order in which "Key=" options appear on the command line gives the order of importance of the keys.

KeyFile=file

specifies a file containing key-strings. Each line of the file contains a separate key-string. These key-strings are the same as those given with "Key=", but without enclosing quotes. A "Keyfile=" may appear anywhere on the command line that a "Key=" can. The order of key-strings in the file gives the order of importance of the keys described.

MediaCode=code

specifies the media code to be used when writing the output into "outfile". MediaCode automatically implies the -Raw option. The default is Media-6 ASCII.

Memorysize=number

specifies the maximum amount of memory BSORT may use. The default is 30(K). BSORT may run faster if more memory is specified, but this depends on how busy the system is.

RecordSize=words

specifies the maximum length of any input record, in words. The default is 300 words. "Recordsize" may not be greater than 7000 (words).

RejectFile=file

specifies a file into which BSORT will write erroneous records. If "file" is omitted (i.e. you just type "rf="), these erroneous records will simply be discarded.

SKip=string

specifies a default set of characters to be skipped when beginning to parse records to find key-fields. By default, "string" is " *t*n" (a blank, a tab, and a new-line). For further information, see the description of key-fields below.

STop=string

specifies a default set of characters that mark the end of a key-field when parsing records to find key-fields. By default, "string" is " *t*n" (a blank, a tab, and a new-line).

Workfiles=number

specifies the number of work files that BSORT is to use. In TSS the temp files are called fc*s1, fc*s2 ... In batch file codes S1, S2 ... are used. This option is only needed for large sorts where the amount of data causes BSORT to exceed what will fit in a single work file.

OPTIONS - options for the BSORT command.

Options:

See Also: