SORT-MERGE/XL General User's Guide (32650-90883)

66 Chapter6
SORT-MERGE/XL Commands
ALTSEQ
ALTSEQ
The >ALTSEQ command defines a collating sequence other than the standard ASCII or
EBCDIC format. The >ALTSEQ command must be preceded by a >DATA command. It is
effective only if the keys are of type BYTE and if the input data is ASCII. (Refer to Appendix
B for information on ASCII and EBCDIC character set values.)
SYNTAX
>A[LTSEQ] modspec1 [, modspec2 ]...[, modspecN ]
PARAMETERS
modspec A set of parameters you use to define your own collating sequence. You can
use more than one group of these parameters in one or more successive
>ALTSEQ commands until the desired collating sequence is defined.
The modspec parameter set has the following form:
{ = }
[EACH] leftspec { } rightspec
{WITH}
or
{WITH}
MERGE
leftspec { } rightspec
{ = }
To specify
leftspec and rightspec use the following form:
{
string }
{
num byte }
{
range string }
EACH The EACH parameter indicates that the collating sequence is to be modified
by assigning each character of
leftspec the ordinal value obtained by
taking the ASCII code decimal value of the corresponding character in
rightspec . If leftspec is longer than rightspec , rightspec is
concatenated to itself enough times to make it equal in length to
leftspec .
MERGE The MERGE parameter indicates that the collating merging
leftspec and
rightspec . Characters are selected alternatively from leftspec and
rightspec .
NOTE If neither EACH nor MERGE is specified, the collating sequence is modified as if
EACH was specified, but
rightspec is padded with blanks if it is shorter than
leftspec .