HP 3000 Manuals

HP COBOL II/XL Reference Manual

FILE SECTION 

The FILE SECTION defines the structure of any sequential, indexed,
relative, random access, or sort-merge file appearing in your program.

Each file is defined by a file description entry and one or more record
descriptions.

A file description entry always begins with the letters SD (for
sort-merge files), or FD (for any other type of file as mentioned above)
in Area A. It is followed by a space, the name of the file being
described, and a sequence of input-output description clauses.

An FD file description furnishes information concerning the physical
structure, identification, and record names pertaining to any type of
file except a sort-merge file.

An SD file description provides information about the size and names of
the data records in a file to be sorted or merged.  Because you cannot
control label procedures and because the blocking for the internal
storage of sort-merge records is controlled by the SORT and MERGE
operations, the only two clauses allowed in a file description for a
sort-merge file are the RECORD CONTAINS and DATA RECORD IS clauses.

A record description always begins with a level number which, in the FILE
SECTION, may be any number from 1 to 49, or the numbers 66 and 88.  Level
numbers of 66 and 88 have special usages associated with them, as
described in Chapter 4 .  Record description entries are described in
Chapter 4 .

Note that record description entries can be used in every section and
must be used in the FILE SECTION, following each file description
appearing in that section.  For a complete description of the FILE
SECTION format refer to the "File Description Clauses" section later in
this chapter.


            


            

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation