When creating a new file to be merged with an existing file, both files must have the identical format. For example, when creating the file NEWHIRES to be merged with the existing file EMPLOYEE, the beginning position of each key data item must be identical in both files. The file EMPLOYEE contains four key data items in each record (employee's last name, first name, job title, and employee number). The format for the first two lines of the file EMPLOYEE is shown in Figure 4-1 “File Format For Merging”.
Figure 4-1 File Format For Merging
1 2 3 4
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345
1 FISHER TOM SHIPPING CLERK 7309
2 TAYLOR HEATHER SECRETARY 7272
\---------/\---------/\-----------------/\--/
\/ \/ \/ \/
Last First Job Employee
Name Name Title Number
|
Since you want the file format for NEWHIRES to be identical to the file format of EMPLOYEE, you would allow 11 characters (columns) for last names, beginning in position 1; 11 characters for first names, beginning in position 12; 19 characters for job titles, beginning in position 23; and 4 characters for employee numbers beginning in position 42. Use the starting position location for each key data item as tab settings when creating the file. A single line record can contain up to 80 characters.
If any of the key data items in the file NEWHIRES is longer than the number of characters established for the key data items in the file EMPLOYEE you may need to alter the format in both files. All characters exceeding established character limits are truncated and do not appear in the file COMPANY.
