Micro Focus mfsort command

Here describe the micro focus utility 'mfsort' usage, and give some samples:

Command Options

Usage:                                                                  mfsort . . .                                                               TAKE                                                          [CHAR-EBCDIC|SIGN-EBCDIC]                                               SORT|MERGE    FIELDS (start,length,type,A|D,...)|COPY                         RECORD F|V,min,max                                      USE           filename  ORG LS|SQ|RL|IX                                           RECORD F|V|FCxxx|FVxxx,min,max                                        [KEY (start,length,P|A|AD|C,...)]                   GIVE          (with parameters as for USE)                              INCLUDE|OMIT  COND=(condition) [FORMAT=type]                            INREC         FIELDS=(field-specifier...)                               OUTREC        FIELDS=(field-specifier...)                               MODS          {exit-name=(exit-routine)}...                             SUM           FIELDS=(sum-field-specifier)|NONE [FORMAT=type]           OUTFIL                                                                      GIVE                                                                    STARTREC  start-record                                                  ENDREC    end-record                                                    INCLUDE|OMIT                                                            SAVE                                                                    SPLIT                                                                   OUTREC                                                                  LINES/HEADER1/TRAILER1/HEADER2/TRAILER2/SECTIONS/NODETAIL     

Detail Options

There are 2 types of command line syntax:

1. mfsort instructions
2. mfsort take instruction_file

Option 1, instructions are placed in command line directly.

Option 2: instructions are placed in a file, and use 'take' option set the file.

Notice: lines start with a star('*') in instruction_file are comment lines.

Instruction SORT/MERGE

SORT/MERGE is the key instruction; SORT and MERGE are mutually exclusive.

Syntax:

SORT/MERGE FIELDS=(field_instruction,…)

field_instruction ::=

(<start>,<length>,{<type>},<A|D>,...){,FORMAT=<type>}

Instructions	Description
SORT FIELDS=(1,2,NU,D)	sort field start from 1, and length is 2
SORT FIELDS=(1,2,NU,D,5,2,CH,A)	sort 2 fields
SORT FIELDS=(1,2,D),FORMAT=NU	use FORMAT instruction to define format
MERGE FIELDS=COPY	COPY

There are common used data types:

Data type	COBOL data type
CH	PIC X USAGE DISPLAY
NU	PIC 9 USAGE DISPLAY
PD	PIC S9 COMP-3
BI	USAGE COMP

Instruction USE

The USE Statement declares the input files, as well as record type, and record length, and the overall organization of the file.

Syntax:

USE <filename> ORG <LS|SQ|RL|IX> RECORD <F|V>,min,max  [KEY …,]

Instruction GIVE

The GIVE Statement declares the output files, as well as record type, and record length, and the overall organization of the file.

More than one GIVE instruction can be used when we need to output multiply output files, for example:

GIVE DATA.SORTOUT1

GIVE DATA.SORTOUT2 ORG LS

GIVE DATA.SORTOUT3 ORG SQ

GIVE DATA.SORTOUT4 ORG SQ RECORD F,80