- Output Record Format
Specifies whether the output record is fixed, variable,
or undefined in length. Enter:
F - Fixed -length records
V - Variable -length records
U - Undefined-length records
Default = F (Fixed length)
- Record Length
A positive integer that specifies the total number
of characters in the output record, including all fields and separators.
If the output records are fixed length and the total number
of characters is less than this length, the record is padded with
blanks at the end. If there are more characters in the field than
will fit in the record, the record is written up to the specified
length and the excess characters are discarded. In this case, a
warning message is issued to the user who runs REFORMAT.
For variable length records, the actual record length is the
sum of all the fields written to the record, including separators.
In this case, the record length specified here is the maximum length
allowed for any record.
Default = 80 characters.
- Upshift?
Indicates whether letters of the alphabet are to
be shifted up to all uppercase letters when data is written to the
output file. Specified as:
Y — Shift letters to uppercase.
N — Leave letters as entered by the user.
Default = N (do not upshift).
If nothing is specified, an error is returned.
- Convert to EBCDIC?
Indicate whether the output file is to be written
in EBCDIC code rather than USASCII.
Y - write output file in EBCDIC
N - leave output file in USASCII
Default = N (do not convert).
- Record Terminator
String Indicates a character or string of characters to
be appended to the end of every record. The record terminator may
be specified as any of the following:
Quoted String — Any USASCII
characters, including blanks, enclosed within single or double quotes.
For example: "eof" or " " or '**' .
USASCII Code — Numeric equivalent to an
USASCII character preceded by a dollar sign ($). Code may be any
decimal number in range 0-127 (refer to Appendix C for decimal equivalent
to USASCII code). For example: $34 is the numeric equivalent of quotation mark; $65 is the equivalent of the letter A.
System Constant — The following system
defined constants may be used as a terminator:
Default = No terminator
If a record terminator is not specified, no special terminator
is placed at the end of output records.
You can combine any of the above terminators into a single
terminator by specifying them one after the other. For example: "end" $LF $CR or $120 "! " $CR or "ABC" "DEF".
Such multiple terminators are concatenated together to form
a single string that is inserted between fields. Note that blanks
are optional except between quoted strings where a separating blank
is required. If a blank does not separate quoted strings, the quote
is included; for example: "ABC""DEF" becomes ABC"DEF in the record.
- Field Separator String
A user-defined value to be inserted between all
consecutive fields in the output record. It will not appear after
the last field in the record, or before or after a constant. If
two consecutive fields are assigned specific column positions so
that the second does not immediately follow the first, the field
separator is placed after the first field. For example, suppose
the field separator is, and the fields are defined as:
FIELD 1 value = ABCD start column
= 5
FIELD 2 value = XYZ start column = 15
The output record for this example is shown below.
The separator may be a quoted string, a USASCII code, or a
system constant, as described above for the Record Terminator.
Unless a separator is specified, fields in an output record
are not separated, but are written as one continuous string of characters.
Default = No separator.
