SORT

Define SORT File

This directive is used to create a new, single-keyed file in a logical disk directory containing only keys, no data.

Syntax

SORT file-name, key-size, num-keys, disk-num, sector-num
[,ERR=line-ref|,ERC=error-code]

file-name: is any string of 8 characters or fewer used to name this file.
key-size: is an integer in the range of 1 to 144 indicating the size, in bytes, of this file's key.
num-keys: is an integer in the range of 0 to 16,777,215 indicating the maximum number of keys to be contained in this file.
disk-num: specifies the logical disk directory that contains this file. Valid values are 0 through 35.
sector-num: is the sector number. The only valid value is 0.
line-ref: is the program line number or label to branch to if this directive produces an error.
error-code: is a programmer-defined error code. Valid values are positive or negative whole numbers.

Remarks

If any integer range is exceeded, an ERR=41 results.

If a file-name of more than eight characters (operating system-dependent) is specified, an ERR=10 results.

File-name must be unique in the execution environment. An attempt to define a same-name file already defined on an available logical disk directory results in ERR=12.

File-name may contain any ASCII characters, unprintable as well as printable. Avoid the using characters, which have special meaning in different operating system environments (e.g. “ * “ in UNIX and Microsoft Windows, “ / “ in UNIX, “ # “ and “ \ “ in Microsoft Windows, etc.).

Do not use device or task names as file names. For example, do not use T0 - T9, TA - TZ, Ta - Tz, D0 - Dz, LP, P0 - Pz, G0 - Gz, C0 - Cz. In general, most device and task names use two-character names. The simplest approach is to not use two-character file-names.

All valid values for sector-num are treated as 0, but syntax requires sector-num to be specified.

Starting with release level 8.3.1, you can define num-keys as 0. This dynamic file type has no EOF (end of file) restrictions, so the necessity for file expansion is removed. The file can contain more than 2 billion records and 140 trillion characters.

Starting with release level 8.3.1, you can use the READ RECORD (channel) string-variable directive to access a SORT file. For more information, please refer to the description of the READ directive.

Examples

SORT "SEAL", 10, 57, 2, 0

creates a SORT file named SEAL with the following parameters: key length is 10 bytes, 57 keys, and a location on logical disk 2 starting at a sector allocated by the operating system.

SORT A$, A, B, D, E, ERR=7999

If A$=“SEAL”, A=10, B=57, D=2, and E=0 has the same effect as the first example, and branches to statement 7999 if this directive produced an error.

SORT

Syntax

Remarks

Examples

See also