JCL for sorting data sets directly

The job control language (JCL) you need to do a sort depends on whether you run DFSORT directly or call DFSORT from a program. For now, concentrate on running DFSORT directly. Information on calling DFSORT from a program is presented in Calling DFSORT from a program.

Your operating system uses the JCL you supply with your DFSORT program control statements to:

Identify you as an authorized user
Allocate the necessary resources to run your job
Run your job
Return information to you about the results
Terminate your job

You must supply JCL with every DFSORT job you submit.

Required JCL includes a JOB statement, an EXEC statement, and several DD statements. The statements you need and their exact form depend upon whether you:

Invoke DFSORT with an EXEC statement in the input job stream, or with a system macro instruction within another program
Choose to use EXEC statement cataloged procedures to invoke DFSORT
Choose to specify PARM options on the EXEC statement
Choose to specify PARM options or control statements in a DFSPARM data set
Choose to specify control statements in a SYSIN data set
Want to use program exits to activate routines of your own

Information on when you would choose each of the previous options is detailed in z/OS DFSORT Application Programming Guide z/OS DFSORT Application Programming Guide.

The JCL statements you need for most jobs are as follows.

//jobname JOB

Signals the beginning of a job. At your site, you might be required to specify information such as your name and account number on the JOB statement.

//stepname EXEC

Signals the beginning of a job step and tells the operating system what program to run. To run DFSORT, write the EXEC statement like this:

//stepname  EXEC  PGM=SORT

//STEPLIB DD

The DFSORT program would typically be in a library known to the system, so the //STEPLIB DD statement would not be needed. However, if DFSORT is not in a library known to the system, the //STEPLIB DD statement defines the library containing the DFSORT program

//SYSOUT DD

Defines the data set in which DFSORT messages and control statements are listed.

//SORTIN DD

Defines the input data set or concatenated input data sets.

//SORTWKdd DD

Defines a work data set for a sort. Typically not needed, because DFSORT can allocate work data sets for a sort dynamically.

//SORTOUT DD

Defines the output data set.

//SYSIN DD

Precedes or contains the DFSORT program control statements.

The following is a typical example of JCL to run DFSORT.

//EXAMP    JOB  A492,PROGRAMMER
//SORT     EXEC PGM=SORT
//SYSOUT   DD   SYSOUT=A
//SORTIN   DD   DSN=A123456.SORT.SAMPIN,DISP=SHR
//SORTOUT  DD   DSN=A123456.SORT.SAMPOUT,DISP=OLD
//SYSIN    DD   *
    SORT FORMAT=CH,
         FIELDS=(110,10,A,145,17,A,1,75,A)
/*

z/OS DFSORT Application Programming Guide contains additional information on running DFSORT directly.

So far
So far in this chapter you covered how to write a SORT program control statement and how to run that sort with JCL statements. The next tutorial explains how to use the MERGE program control statement to merge two data sets.