When DFSORT encounters a critical error, it issues an A-type message and terminates. You can specify that DFSORT is to terminate the application with an abend through the ABEND or ABSTP options.

If abend termination is in effect and DFSORT encounters a critical error, DFSORT first causes an abend dump to capture the environment at the time of the error. Then, it issues the A-type message. It also runs the termination functions described earlier before terminating with an abend. The abend code will be the error message number, or a number between 1-99, as determined during installation with the ABCODE installation option.

With NOESTAE and ABEND in effect, the abend dump is produced after the A-type message is printed and other termination functions are run. As a result, the dump produced might not reflect the conditions at the time of the error. It may not include the module that encountered the error.

With NOESTAE and ABSTP in effect, the correct module will be dumped but the A-type message will not be issued.