Requesting the sort or merge

To transfer sorted or merged records from the sort or merge program to another file without any further processing, use SORT . . . GIVING or MERGE . . . GIVING and the name of the output file that you declared in a SELECT clause. For example:

SORT Sort-Work-1
    ON ASCENDING KEY Sort-Key-1
    USING Input-File
    GIVING Output-File.

For SORT . . . USING or MERGE . . . USING, the compiler generates an input procedure to open the file (files), read the records, release the records to the sort or merge program, and close the file (files). The file (files) must not be open when the SORT or MERGE statement begins execution. For SORT . . . GIVING or MERGE . . . GIVING, the compiler generates an output procedure to open the file, return the records, write the records, and close the file. The file must not be open when the SORT or MERGE statement begins execution.

The USING or GIVING files in a SORT or MERGE statement can be sequential files residing in the z/OS® UNIX file system.

Example: describing sort and input files for SORT

You can also use the FASTSRT compiler option to let IBM® DFSORT, or an equivalent product, perform sort input and output instead of the Enterprise COBOL compiler (along with Language Environment® run time). Using FASTSRT improves the performance of most sort operations. For details, see FASTSRT.

If you want an input procedure to be performed on the sort records before they are sorted, use SORT . . . INPUT PROCEDURE. If you want an output procedure to be performed on the sorted records, use SORT . . . OUTPUT PROCEDURE. For example:

SORT Sort-Work-1
    ON ASCENDING KEY Sort-Key-1
    INPUT PROCEDURE EditInputRecords
    OUTPUT PROCEDURE FormatData.

Example: sorting with input and output procedures

Restriction: You cannot use an input procedure with the MERGE statement. The source of input to the merge operation must be a collection of already sorted files. However, if you want an output procedure to be performed on the merged records, use MERGE . . . OUTPUT PROCEDURE. For example:

MERGE Merge-Work
    ON ASCENDING KEY Merge-Key
    USING Input-File-1 Input-File-2 Input-File-3
    OUTPUT PROCEDURE ProcessOutput.

In the FILE SECTION, you must define Merge-Work in an SD entry, and the input files in FD entries.