.-,-------.                             
                       V         |                             
>>-SORT--FIELDS=--+-(----p,m,f,s-+--)----------------------+---->
                  |    .-,---------------.                 |   
                  |    V                 |                 |   
                  +-(----p,m,--+----+--s-+--)--,--FORMAT=f-+   
                  |            '-f,-'                      |   
                  '-COPY-----------------------------------'   

>--+-------------------------------------+---------------------><
   |   .-,-----------------------------. |   
   |   V                               | |   
   '-,---+-CKPT----------------------+-+-'   
         +-DYNALLOC--+-------------+-+       
         |           '-=-+-d-----+-' |       
         |               +-(,n)--+   |       
         |               +-(d,n)-+   |       
         |               '-OFF---'   |       
         +-+-EQUALS---+--------------+       
         | '-NOEQUALS-'              |       
         +-+-FILSZ=--+-x--+-+--------+       
         | |         +-Ex-+ |        |       
         | |         '-Ux-' |        |       
         | '-SIZE=--+-y--+--'        |       
         |          +-Ey-+           |       
         |          '-Uy-'           |       
         +-SKIPREC=z-----------------+       
         +-STOPAFT=n-----------------+       
         '-Y2PAST=--+-s-+------------'       
                    '-f-'                    

The SORT control statement must be used when a sorting application is performed; this statement describes the control fields in the input records on which the program sorts. A SORT statement can also be used to specify a copy application. User labels will not be copied to the output data sets.

The way in which DFSORT processes short SORT control fields depends on the setting for VLSHRT/NOVLSHRT. A short field is one where the variable-length record is too short to contain the entire field, that is, the field extends beyond the record. For details about sorting short records, see the discussion of the VLSHRT and NOVLSHRT options in OPTION control statement.

The options available on the SORT statement can be specified in other sources as well. A table showing all possible sources for these options and the order of override is given in Specification/override of DFSORT options.

When an option can be specified on either the SORT or OPTION statement, it is preferable to specify it on the OPTION statement.

DFSORT accepts but does not process the following SORT operands: WORK=value and ORDER=value.

If locale processing is to be used, the active locale will only be used to process character (CH) control fields.

For more information on locale processing, see Cultural environment considerations or LOCALE in OPTION control statement.

FIELDS

             .-,-------.      
             V         |      
>>-FIELDS=(----p,m,f,s-+--)------------------------------------><

Requires four facts about each control field in the input records: the position of the field within the record, the length of the field, the format of the data in the field, and the sequence into which the field is to be sorted. These facts are communicated to DFSORT by the values of the FIELDS operand, represented by p, m, f, and s.

The value for f can optionally be specified by the FORMAT=f parameter as explained later in this section.

All control fields must be located within the first 32752 bytes of a record.

The maximum length of the collected control fields for which Blockset can be used is 4088 bytes. However, the maximum length can be less than 4088 for various situations, such as the use of certain formats (for example, PD), the EQUALS option, and so on. If this maximum is exceeded, Blockset cannot be used.

The FIELDS operand can be written in two ways.

The program examines the major control field first, and it must be specified first. The minor control fields are specified following the major control field. p, m, f, and s describe the control fields. The text that follows gives specifications in detail.

p

specifies the first byte of a control field relative to the beginning of the input record. ¹

The first data byte of a fixed-length record has relative position 1. The first data byte of a variable-length record has relative position 5. The first 4 bytes contain the record descriptor word. All control fields, except binary, must begin on a byte boundary. The first byte of a floating-point field is interpreted as a signed exponent; the rest of the field is interpreted as the fraction.

Fields containing binary values are described in a "bytes.bits" notation as follows:

1. First, specify the byte location relative to the beginning of the record and follow it with a period.
2. Then, specify the bit location relative to the beginning of that byte. Remember that the first (high-order) bit of a byte is bit 0 (not bit 1); the remaining bits are numbered 1 through 7.

Thus, 1.0 represents the beginning of a record. A binary field beginning on the third bit of the third byte of a record is represented as 3.2. When the beginning of a binary field falls on a byte boundary (say, for example, on the fourth byte), you can write it in one of three ways:

    4.0
    4.
    4

Other examples of this notation are shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1. Examples of Notation for Binary Fields

m

specifies the length of the control field. Values for all control fields except binary fields must be expressed in integer numbers of bytes. Binary fields can be expressed in the notation “bytes.bits”. The length of a binary control field that is an integer value (d) can be expressed in one of three ways:

  d.0
  d.
  d

The number of bits specified must not exceed 7. A control field 2 bits long would be represented as 0.2.

The total number of bytes occupied by all control fields must not exceed 4092 (or, when the EQUALS option is in operation, 4088 bytes). When you determine the total, count a binary field as occupying an entire byte if it occupies any part of it. For example, a binary field that begins on byte 2.6 and is 3 bits long occupies two bytes. All fields must be completely contained within the first 32752 bytes of the record.

f

specifies the format of the data in the control field. Acceptable control field lengths (in bytes) and available formats are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Control Field Formats and Lengths

Control Field Formats and LengthsFormat	Length	Description
CH	1 to 4092 bytes	Character 2
AQ	1 to 4092 bytes	Character with alternate collating sequence
ZD	1 to 256 bytes	Signed zoned decimal
PD	1 to 256 bytes	Signed packed decimal
PD0	2 to 8 bytes	Packed decimal with sign and first digit ignored
FI	1 to 256 bytes	Signed fixed-point
BI	1 bit to 4092 bytes	Unsigned binary
FL	1 to 256 bytes	Signed hexadecimal floating-point
AC	1 to 4092 bytes	ASCII character
CSF or FS	1 to 32 bytes	Signed numeric with optional leading floating sign
UFF	1 to 44 bytes	Unsigned free form numeric
SFF	1 to 44 bytes	Signed free form numeric
CSL or LS	2 to 256 bytes	Signed numeric with leading separate sign
CST or TS	2 to 256 bytes	Signed numeric with trailing separate sign
CLO or OL	1 to 256 bytes	Signed numeric with leading overpunch sign
CTO or OT	1 to 256 bytes	Signed numeric with trailing overpunch sign
ASL	2 to 256 bytes	Signed ASCII numeric with leading separate sign
AST	2 to 256 bytes	Signed ASCII numeric with trailing separate sign
D1	1 to 4092 bytes	User-defined data type (requires an EFS program)
Y2T	3 to 6 bytes	Character or zoned yyx...x full date format with special indicators
Y2U	2 or 3 bytes	Packed decimal yyx and yyxxx full date format with special indicators
Y2V	3 or 4 bytes	Packed decimal yyxx and yyxxxx full date format with special indicators
Y2W	3 to 6 bytes	Character or zoned x...xyy full date format with special indicators
Y2X	2 or 3 bytes	Packed decimal xyy and xxxyy full date format with special indicators
Y2Y	3 or 4 bytes	Packed decimal xxyy and xxxxyy full date format with special indicators
Y2C or Y2Z	2 bytes	Two-digit character or zoned-decimal year data
Y2P	2 bytes	Two-digit packed-decimal year data
Y2D	1 byte	Two-digit decimal year data
Y2S	2 bytes	Two-digit character or zoned-decimal year data with special indicators
Y2B	1 byte	Two-digit binary year data
Note: See Data format descriptions for detailed format descriptions.

CSF, FS, UFF, SFF, Y2 and PD0 format fields can only be used if Blockset is selected.

For Y2 format fields, real dates are collated using the century window established by the Y2PAST option in effect, but the century window is not used for special indicators. Thus the Y2 formats will collate real dates and special indicators as follows:

• Y2T and Y2W:

  Ascending:

  BI zeros, blanks, CH/ZD zeros, lower century dates (for example, 19yy), upper century dates (for example, 20yy), CH/ZD nines, BI ones.

  Descending:

  BI ones, CH/ZD nines, upper century dates (for example, 20yy), lower century dates (for example, 19yy), CH/ZD zeros, blanks, BI zeros.

• Y2U, Y2V, Y2X and Y2Y:

  Ascending:

  PD zeros, lower century dates (for example, 19yy), upper century dates (for example, 20yy), PD nines.

  Descending:

  PD nines, upper century dates (for example, 20yy), lower century dates (for example, 19yy), PD zeros.

• Y2C, Y2Z, Y2P, Y2D and Y2B:

  Ascending:

  Lower century years (for example, 19yy), upper century years (for example, 20yy).

  Descending:

  Upper century years (for example, 20yy), lower century years (for example, 19yy).

• Y2S:

  Ascending:

  BI zeros, blanks, lower century years (for example, 19yy), upper century years (for example, 20yy), BI ones.

  Descending:

  BI ones, upper century years (for example, 20yy), lower century years (for example, 19yy), blanks, BI zeros.

The AC format sequences EBCDIC data using the ASCII collating sequence shown in Appendix D. For example, if AC is used with ascending sequence, the EBCDIC numbers (0-9) will collate before the EBCDIC uppercase letters (A-Z) which in turn will collate before the EBCDIC lowercase letters (a-z).

You can use p,m,s rather than p,m,f,s if you use FORMAT=f to supply the format for the field, as described later in this section.

All floating-point data must be normalized before the program can collate it properly. You can use an E15 or E61 user exit to do this during processing. If you use E61, specify the E option for the value of s in the FIELDS operand for each control field you are going to modify with this user exit.

s

specifies how the control field is to be ordered. The valid codes are:

A

ascending order

D

descending order

E

control fields to be modified

Specify E if you include an E61 user exit to modify control fields before the program sorts them. After an E61 user exit modifies the control fields, DFSORT collates the records in ascending order using the formats specified. ³

For information on how to add a user exit, see Using your own user exit routines.

Default: None; must be specified. See Specification/override of DFSORT options for full override details.

Applicable Functions: See Specification/override of DFSORT options.

FORMAT

>>-FORMAT=f----------------------------------------------------><

FORMAT=f can be used to specify a particular format for one or more control fields. f from FORMAT=f is used for p,m,s fields. f from FORMAT=f is ignored for p,m,f,s fields. For example, the following are all equivalent:

  SORT FIELDS=(5,5,ZD,A,12,6,PD,D,21,3,PD,A,35,7,ZD,A)

  SORT FORMAT=ZD,FIELDS=(5,5,A,12,6,PD,D,21,3,PD,A,35,7,A)

  SORT FIELDS=(5,5,ZD,A,12,6,D,21,3,A,35,7,ZD,A),FORMAT=PD

The permissible field formats are shown under the description of 'f' for fields.

If you have specified the COPY operand, FORMAT=f cannot be specified.

Default: None; FORMAT=f must be specified if any field is specified as p,m,s rather than p,m,f,s. See Specification/override of DFSORT options for full override details.

Applicable Functions: See Specification/override of DFSORT options.

Note: DFSORT issues an informational message and ignores FORMAT=f if all of the fields are specified as p,m,f,s.

FIELDS=COPY

>>-FIELDS=COPY-------------------------------------------------><

See the discussion of the COPY option discussed in OPTION control statement.

CKPT

>>-CKPT--------------------------------------------------------><

See the discussion of this option discussed in OPTION control statement.

DYNALLOC

>>-DYNALLOC--+-------------+-----------------------------------><
             '-=-+-d-----+-'   
                 +-(,n)--+     
                 +-(d,n)-+     
                 '-OFF---'     

See the discussion of this option in OPTION control statement.

EQUALS or NOEQUALS

>>-+-EQUALS---+------------------------------------------------><
   '-NOEQUALS-'   

See the discussion of these options in OPTION control statement.

FILSZ or SIZE

>>-+-FILSZ=--+-x--+-+------------------------------------------><
   |         +-Ex-+ |   
   |         '-Ux-' |   
   '-SIZE=--+-y--+--'   
            +-Ey-+      
            '-Uy-'      

See the discussion of these options in OPTION control statement.

SKIPREC

>>-SKIPREC=z---------------------------------------------------><

See the discussion of this option in OPTION control statement.

STOPAFT

>>-STOPAFT=n---------------------------------------------------><

See the discussion of this option in OPTION control statement.

Y2PAST

>>-Y2PAST=--+-s-+----------------------------------------------><
            '-f-'   

See the discussion of this option in OPTION control statement.

Note: CENTURY=value and CENTWIN=value can be used instead of Y2PAST=value.