SORT-MERGE/XL Programmer's Guide (32650-90884)

20 Chapter2
Creating Core Routines That Sort and Merge
Initializing a Sort or Merge
Creating Input Files in an Editor You can use any text editor to create fixed format
data files stored in character format.
For example, EDIT/3000 keeps your data items lined up by using tabs to separate them.
This ensures a fixed format. To follow the example below, enter EDIT/3000, set the tab
character to a displayable character, and indicate where you want the tabs to be set.
/tabchar = "%", tabs = (21,41,61)
To verify that the tab character and the tabs are set the way you want them, enter:
/verify tabchar, tabs
You will see EDIT/3000 display:
tab character = "%"
tabs = (21,41,61)
Enter your information in the following manner:
When you list this file, it will appear as follows:
Give your file a meaningful name, save it with the KEEP command. This example file
contains permanent employee information, so it is kept as PERMEMP.
For more information about EDIT/3000, refer to the EDIT/3000 Reference Manual.
Creating Input Files in a Program With intrinsics, you can access SORT-MERGE/XL
programmatically from any language. When you create a file from a program, the data can
be any data type allowed by the language you are using. For information about creating
input files and saving the output file, refer to the programmer's guide for your language,
such as:
• HP Business BASIC/XL Reference Manual
• HP C Reference Manual and HP C/XL Reference Manual Supplement
• COBOL II Reference Manual and COBOL II/XL Reference Manual Supplement
• HP FORTRAN 77/XL Reference Manual
• HP Pascal Reference Manual
\A
1 Jones,%Eliza%000001%06/06/87
2 Smith,%James%000005%06/06/87
3 Jackson,%Johnathon%000005%06/06/87
4 Washington,%Lois%000014%07/23/87
5 Jackson,%Rosa%000022%08/15/87
Jones, Eliza 000001 06/06/87
Smith, James 000002 06/06/87
Jackson, Johnathon 000003 06/06/87
Washington, Lois 000004 07/23/87
Jackson, Rosa 000005 08/15/87