COMBINE: combine two or more files

Description

Combines several files of like organization. Indexed files are merged; consecutive files are placed end to end. Portions of consecutive files may be selected and merged (the EXTRACT option).

Categories

Program Development
System Operation

Related files

COMBINE Object file for utility.

User Instructions

COMBINE allows multiple files of similar organization to be combined. It consists of two major options for operation:
• CONCATENATE option: Merges files of similar organization into a single file, concatenating the records. Consecutive files are placed end-to-end; indexed files are merged. Note: indexed files must not have duplicate key values.

• EXTRACT option: Selected portions of consecutive files can be extracted into a new file. Record numbers are used to establish the range of these extracts.

Programmer Instructions

COMBINE consists entirely of GETPARM screens, so it can be run within program control.

FUNCTION    Press PF(01) to select CONCATENATE mode or PF(02)
            to select EXTRACT mode.  (There are no further
            options from this screen.)

INPUT1      Press (RETURN) to continue.

  FILE      (blank)     The name and location of the first
  LIBRARY   (blank)     file to be processed.  Used to
  VOLUME    (blank)     establish the parameters for all
                        files.

INPUT       Optional; appears only with indexed files using
            the CONCATENATE option (PF(01) from FUNCTION).
            Press (RETURN) to continue.  (This screen may be
            repeated as many times as necessary to specify
            all input files.)

  FILE      (blank)     The names and locations of succeeding
  LIBRARY   (blank)     files to be processed.  Leave file
  VOLUME    (blank)     name blank to end input.

INPUTS      Optional; appears only with consecutive files
            using the CONCATENATE option (PF(01) from
            FUNCTION).  Press (RETURN) to continue.  (This
            screen may be repeated as many times as necessary
            to specify all input files.)

  FILE      (blank)     The names and locations of succeeding
  LIBRARY   (blank)     files to be processed.  Leave file
  VOLUME    (blank)     name blank to end input.

RANGE       Optional; appears only with the EXTRACT option
            (PF(02) from FUNCTION).  Press (RETURN) to
            continue.

  START     0000001     The starting and ending records to be
  FINISH    (last)      used in the output file.

OUTPUT      Press (RETURN) to continue.

  FILE      (blank)     The location of the file to be
  LIBRARY   [outlib]    created by COMBINE.  Library and
  VOLUME    [outvol]    volume defaults to the OUTLIB and
                        OUTVOL usage constants.

  RECORDS   (count)     The record count for the output file.

  RETAIN    (blank)     Retention period for the file.

  RELEASE   YES         Set to NO to retain allocated blocks
                        after the file is closed.

  FILECLAS  [fileclas]  The file protection class.  Defaults
                        to the user's output file class.

Example of use

Use to combine any type of file; especially useful for combining print files or merging new records into existing indexed files.

Comments

A good utility that lacks sufficient documentation to be easily discovered.