MVSFORUMS.com

[misi01]

All the examples I see when googling use the idea of

[William Collins]

Just quickly to get you going, those are SORT Control Cards, not ICETOOL operators.

For SORT, you use SYSIN not TOOLIN. Can also be a dataset, though again, for simplicity, you'll mostly see examples with DD *. SORT Control Cards need to be prefixed by at least one blank.

In the DFSORT Application Programming Guide, you'll find a Chapter devoted to ICETOOL. You'll see the ICETOOL operators work one-at-a-time, input data to output data, though multiple operators can be used within a step. ICETOOL Operators do not need to be prefixed by any blanks.

If you want to modify the action of an ICETOOL Operator, you specify USING(nnnn) and then have a CNTL DDname, which can contain the SORT Control Cards needed. Again,this can be a dataset, though most examples you will find will be DD *...

TOOLIN - ICETOOL Operators
SYSIN - SORT Control Cards
nnnnCNTL - USING(nnnn) to modify data for an ICETOOL Operator specifying USING(nnnn)
JNF1CNTL/JNF2CNTL - SORT Control Cards for JOINKEYS Subtasks

For convenience, examples of all of the above will be DD * likely, but there is no difference if a permanent dataset is supplied. Needs to be 80-byte LRECL.

[misi01]

Thanks William. Soon after I'd posted the topic, I realised my mistake. I did find an example which got me on my way.

Thanks again
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Michael

[William Collins]

No problem.

I'm not remotely convinced that the link provides a good source of material , but, it's on the internet, so it must be fine

[kolusu]

[misi01]

I don't consider myself that lazy. Before I append a query, I do 2 things:-
1 A normal google (I just tried again using the search criteria toolin +file +input)
2 A search on this site using the appropriate forum (again using the search criteria above).

In the former case, I found nothing that seemed revelant. In the latter case, I found a minimum of 9 pages. I simply don't have time (at work) to wade through these pages looking at eacxh and every one of the entries to see if it fits. I know there are a lot of experienced, kind-hearted members out there who can and are prepared to answer my question, so that's the path I take.

Now, there is another alternative. Either the search engine on this forum is "limited" (generally, my experience has been that using this site's search engine doesn't usually give me the answer I'm looking for even if it might be there somewhere) or it possibly is ignoring things like the + sign in the search.

Feel free to show me the search criteria that would have given me my answer as well as how many pages I would have needed to wade through to find it

This isn't a "complaint" about this site in any way, it's simply reality (for me) as to why I post a query. (At the end of the day, those of us who do search and find the answer never post the question. Those of us who do post a question might well have searched and not been able to find the answer. It's easy to search when you know what criteria will give you the answer you're looking for, but if you don't use exactly those criteria, you won't find that answer)
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Michael

[kolusu]

[misi01]

Sorry Kolusu. My lazy comment was just that, a comment. You know as well as I do that there are LOADS of people out there who append and haven't even made the first attempt to find the answer. I was just trying to say, I don't belong to them. You COULD accuse me of not looking long and hard enough BEFORE appending, but like most others with a job, I need a solution, prefereably today, rather than tomorrow.

I search a fair bit, append to this forum, then continue searching. GENERALLY speaking, I get an answer here before I find the solution elsewhere.
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Michael