Fixed-Length Records

Because inserting of SO and SI characters increases the output record length, you must define the output data set with enough space in the output record. The record length of the output data set must be equal to the input data set's record length plus the additional number of bytes necessary to insert the SO and SI pairs. Each SO and SI pair consists of 2 bytes. In the following example for a fixed-length record, the input record length is 80 bytes and consists of one DBCS string surrounded by an SO and SI pair. The output record length would be 82 bytes, which is correct.

   Input record length = 80; number of SO and SI pairs = 1
   Output record length = 82 (correct length)

An output record length of 84 bytes, for example, would be too large and would result in an error. An output record length of 80 bytes, for example, would be too small because there would not be room for the SO and SI pair. If the output record length is too small or too large, an error message is issued, a return code of 12 is returned from IEBGENER, and the command ends.