IBM Mainframe Forum

Is it possible to turn a tab delimited file into a fixed length file?

I have a variable length file which shows up on the mainframe as depicted under "input" below.
There appear to be periods between variables, which I think are unprintable characters that represent tabs.
The reason I think this is that when I do a search for "." the only instances the search finds are the decimal points
in the 13th variable. There are some fields where every value is blank (e.g., the 3rd variable).

I would like to turn the file into a fixed length file, where each instance of a given variable starts in the same column (e.g. the id starts in column 1, the location starts in column 10 and so on). (The output below is not showing up exactly as I want it to because of the variable spacing of the font.)

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Cindy

input



desired output

"Code'd"

Hello,

To get posts aligned, simply copy/paste from the screen, highlight, and use the Code tag (your data has been "Code'd").

What is/are the hex value(s) of those unprintable characters?

Cindy,

What is the RECFM and LRECL of the input file?

I need to see what a few records look like in hex before I can help you. So please post that.

If the file is FB, use DFSORT statements like this to show the first 3 records in hex:



where n is the LRECL.

If the file is VB, use DFSORT statements like this to show the first 3 records in hex:

Hello,

What is/are the hex value(s) of those unprintable characters?

If the file is tab-delimited, those should be x'05's.

The format is FB, the LRECL is 300.

Here's what the file looks like in hex (the first 3 records):
F2F0F0F0F0F3F2F9F105F0F2D4F1F3F10505F2F0F0F905F2F0F1F005F105C8F7C3C505F205F0F105F105F005F7F405F04BF5F005C305D705D405F205F705F105E2A381958481998405C3C5D3C5C2D9C1E3C9D6D5E20505F14BF0F005F2F0F1F060F0F360F1F240F1F37AF4F67AF4F54BF7F0F7F0F0F0F0F0F005D4D78187819505C8E2E2E36DC4E3E26DE4978481A385C799818485A2
F2F0F0F0F0F3F2F9F105F0F2D4F1F3F10505F2F0F0F905F2F0F1F005F105E3F7C4C505F505F0F105F105F005F8F005F04BF5F005C205D705D405F605F005F105E2A381958481998405C4C9C7C9E3C1D340D7D6D9E3C6D6D3C9D60505F14BF0F005F2F0F1F060F0F660F0F740F1F87AF3F67AF2F44BF7F9F3F0F0F0F0F0F005D4D78187819505C8E2E2E36DC4E3E26DC995A28599A3C7
F2F0F0F0F0F3F3F0F905F0F2D4F1F3F10505F2F0F0F905F2F0F1F005F105D4D6F7F405F505F0F205F105F005F8F005F14BF0F005C205D705D405F305F805F105E2A381958481998405D4C1E3C840F70505F14BF0F005F2F0F1F060F0F660F0F740F1F67AF3F37AF2F74BF0F7F0F0F0F0F0F0F005D4D78187819505C8E2E2E36DC4E3E26DC995A28599A3C799818485A205F2F0F1F060

Here's what it looks like in original format (1st 3 records):
200003291.02M131..2009.2010.1.H7CE.2.01.1.0.74.0.50.C.P.M.2.7.1.Standard.CELEBRATIONS..1.00.2010-03-12 13:46:45.707000000.MPagan.HSST_DTS_UpdateGrades.2010-11-12 16:21:43.933000000
200003291.02M131..2009.2010.1.T7DE.5.01.1.0.80.0.50.B.P.M.6.0.1.Standard.DIGITAL PORTFOLIO..1.00.2010-06-07 18:36:24.793000000.MPagan.HSST_DTS_InsertGrades.2010-11-12 16:21:43.933000000
200003309.02M131..2009.2010.1.MO74.5.02.1.0.80.1.00.B.P.M.3.8.1.Standard.MATH 7..1.00.2010-06-07 16:33:27.070000000.MPagan.HSST_DTS_InsertGrades.2010-11-12 16:21:43.933000000

Thank you.

You would have to use DFSORT's PARSE function to create the fixed length file, but it won't be automatic. You will have to set up a %nn variable for each "field" with its appropriate FIXLEN length. You can use ENDBEFR=X'05' to find the delimiter for each field. You can set up to 100 %nn fields this way (%00-%99).

For complete information on DFSORT's PARSE function, see:

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss? ... g3T7000086

Hello,

You might consider writing a bit of code to UNSTRING the delimited data into fixed fields.

This could be invoked as a SORT exit (unless there is something to prevent this) or run standalone. . .

Thank you very much for your help and guidance.

When I try to get to the pdf for SORTPEUG, I get an error page:

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Try the following:
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