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Using a Native Language Sequence

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When you sort or merge information that has language considerations, you do so by using a collating sequence for Native Language types. These collating sequences include language-specific alphanumeric characters and accent marks.

Parameters in the HPSORTINIT or HPMERGEINIT intrinsic are used when specifying an alternate collating sequence. The parameters are:

  • keys - Data type element must be set to 10 for character data.

  • charseq - a 32-bit integer array. The first element contains the value of 1 (one) and second element contains the language ID of the collating sequence.

NOTE: Use the altseq parameter with ASCII sequences only. Do not use it to create alternate sequences for native language (NL).

Getting the Language ID

To determine the supported languages and their language identification numbers (IDs), use the NLUTIL utility. For example, to sort or merge a German file, run NLUTIL to find the language ID for German:

Figure 4-1 Running NLUTIL 

  :RUN NLUTIL.PUB.SYS

  HP32414A.03.00  NLUTIL/3000  (C) HEWLETT-PACKARD CO., 1983

     Lang   Lang                  Char    Char
       ID   Name                    ID    Name
     ----   ----                  ----    ----------------
        0   NATIVE-3000              0    USASCII
        1   AMERICAN                 1    ROMAN8
        2   CANADIAN-FRENCH          1    ROMAN8
        3   DANISH                   1    ROMAN8
        4   DUTCH                    1    ROMAN8
        5   ENGLISH                  1    ROMAN8
        6   FINNISH                  1    ROMAN8
        7   FRENCH                   1    ROMAN8
        8   GERMAN                   1    ROMAN8
        9   ITALIAN                  1    ROMAN8
       10   NORWEGIAN                1    ROMAN8
       11   PORTUGUESE               1    ROMAN8
       12   SPANISH                  1    ROMAN8
       13   SWEDISH                  1    ROMAN8

  Do you require a listing of the current configuration? N
  Do you require a listing of one language? N
  END OF PROGRAM

Specifying Parameters

You then specify the keys and charseq parameters for the HPSORTINIT or HPMERGEINIT intrinsic as follows: 

  var
    keys    : array [1..4] of INTEGER;
    charseq : array [1..2] of INTEGER;

    keys[1] := 1;  {key begins}
    keys[2] := 20; {key length}
    keys[3] := 10; {native language character data}
    keys[4] := 1;  {ascending order}

    charseq [1] := 1;
    charseq [1] := 8;  {language ID for GERMAN}
For detailed information about native language sorting and merging, refer to the Native Language Programmer's Guide.



Example of Using an Altered Sequence

Chapter 5 Getting SORT-MERGE/XL Information