SORT-CONTROL

The SORT-CONTROL special register is the name of an alphanumeric data item.

Restriction: The SORT-CONTROL special register is not applicable to sorting a table with the format 2 SORT statement.

The SORT-CONTROL special register has the implicit definition:


01  SORT-CONTROL GLOBAL PICTURE X(8) USAGE DISPLAY VALUE "IGZSRTCD".

When used in nested programs, this special register is implicitly defined with the global attribute in the outermost program.

This register contains the ddname of the data set that holds the control statements used to improve the performance of a sorting or merging operation.

You can provide a DD statement for the data set identified by the SORT-CONTROL special register. Enterprise COBOL will attempt to open the data set at execution time. Any error will be diagnosed with an informational message.

You can specify the SORT-CONTROL special register in a function wherever an alphanumeric argument is allowed.

The SORT-CONTROL special register is not necessary for a successful sorting or merging operation.

The sort control file takes precedence over the SORT special registers.