IBM Mainframe Forum

Well, that is a syncsort question for which there is a seperate section in the forum. However, in DFSORT there is a DATASORT option that allows sort to ignore headers and trailers. I do not know if SYNCSORT has the same facility.

Also I have a number like this 00-0000. the file being sent to me that needs to matched will be in this format 000000. Any ideas on how to exclude the dash?

NicC wrote:Well, that is a syncsort question for which there is a seperate section in the forum. However, in DFSORT there is a DATASORT option that allows sort to ignore headers and trailers. I do not know if SYNCSORT has the same facility.

I believe that Syncsort for z/OS 1.3.2 and above have support for DATASORT.

Hello,

Do you want a Syncsort solution or a COBOL solution?

Sorry, the header and trailer are naturally staying at the top and bottom now without me doing anything, didn't think it would. I didn't specify the generation of the file before which was making my header and trailer look weird. As for the dash, this is where I am a little uncertain. I was told that when the file is sent out it can't contain the dash. In the COBOL I will not be creating a new file just simply changing a value in FILEA. So this might be a stupid question, but can you somehow specify to exlude that dash in the JCL for the sorted output. Or is it within the cobol program?

You have to answer the questions asked before asking more, else we'll waste a lot of time.

didn't notice that the thread went to the second page until after i asked another question, sorry. As for dick scherrer's question, thats what I'm not sure about. Whether I can exclude the dash in jcl that does the syncsort and creates my output file, or if it is done in cobol.

You did not reply properly to the question asked
do You want HELP/SUGGESTIONS on a syncsort(1) or a cobol(2) solution ?

reply (1) or (2) nothing more nothing less!

You started telling that You were assigned the task of doing a file comparison in COBOL
You were given the link to a sample to do it
and it was pointed out that for proper file comparison both file had to be sorted on the compare key

just take a decision on how You want to proceed .

As I mentioned above, I am doing both, but don't know if it's syncsort or cobol that would get rid of the dash in my output. So I can't answer that properly. I am using the outputted syncsort file in the cobol to compare. Please understand that I am very new at this.

If it makes it easier, I'll say that I'd prefer to Syncsort it so the output file doesnt have the dash. I a

being new to all this should not prevent You from using Your brain when posting

it wasn' t me/us who posted ...

they want me to do it using Cobol as practice