Read or write RECFM=U datasets from COBOL

[Tzadik Vanderhoof]

Hi there... this is my first post!

Is there any way to read or write RECFM=U datasets from COBOL? I can't find any info about it in my COBOL book or online.

[dick scherrer]

Hello Tzadik and welcome to the forums,

What data do you want to read that is recfm=u? This is mostly used for loadlib members and some proprietary uses (which have supporting utility code.

[CICS Guy]

Is there any way to read or write RECFM=U datasets from COBOL? I can't find any info about it in my COBOL book or online.

Yes, just specify Recording Mode U (Fixed or Variable). The records can be either fixed-length or variable-length. However, there is only one record for each block. There are no record-length or block-descriptor fields.

[Tzadik Vanderhoof]

Thanks... it's for processing a binary file received via FTP

[dick scherrer]

Hello,

How was the binary file created?

If the source of the data was unix or win-based, you may have more "opportunities" than simply reading the file.