SYNCSORT - AN OVERVIEW

Table of Contents

1. OverView ...................................................................................................... 1
2. SYNCSORT Commands ............................................................................... 2
2.1 SORT......................................................................................................... 2
2.2 MERGE ..................................................................................................... 2
2.3 INCLUDE and OMIT................................................................................ 2
2.4 INREC and OUTREC ............................................................................... 3
2.5 SUM .......................................................................................................... 3
2.6 ALTERNATE COLLATING SEQUENCE .............................................. 4
2.7 OPTION Statement ................................................................................... 4
2.7.1 EQUALS AND NOEQUALS ............................................................. 4
2.7.2 RECORD............................................................................................. 4
2.7.3 SKIPREC............................................................................................. 4
2.7.4 STOPAFT............................................................................................ 4
2.7.5 COPY .................................................................................................. 5
2.8 OUTFIL..................................................................................................... 5
3. JCL Requirement........................................................................................... 5
SYSIN . ...................................................................................................... 5
SYSOUT ..................................................................................................... 5
SORTIN ...................................................................................................... 5
SORTIN## .................................................................................................. 5
SORTOUT .................................................................................................. 5
SORTOUT# ................................................................................................ 5
SORTOT## ................................................................................................. 5
SORTWK##................................................................................................ 5
4. PROCESSING ORDER ................................................................................ 5

1. OVERVIEW
Syncsort belongs to Syncsort IncC that can sort data, merge data, selectively process data,
reformat data, create summary records from data and create extensive reports from input data. It
can also perform any combination of the above mentioned functions and more. This document
tries to explain in brief the various items related to processing data using Syncsort. This document
describes a subset of the Syncsort functions and does not claim to be a replacement nor does the
author guarantee the exactness of details or syntax.

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2. SYNCSORT COMMANDS

2.1 SORT
The SORT statement can be used sort a dataset or concatenated datasets. The SORT statement
requires the sort sequence for the data. The list of fields and their formats must be specified for
this statement. The output records are sorted in the specified sequence. The multiple records
contain the same sort sequence key, then the options specified will determine if the input order is
maintained for such records. The format of the SORT statement is as follows.
SORT FIELDS=({begcol},{length},{fieldtype},{D|A}[,{begcol},
{length},{fieldtype},{D|A}]...)
or
SORT FIELDS=({begcol},{length},{D|A}[,{begcol},{length},
{D|A}]...),{fieldtype}
The beginning column is specified in bytes, starting with 1 for the first byte. The length of the
field must be specified in bytes, irrespective of the field type. There are many field types. The
frequently used ones are CH for character, BI for binary (COMP fields of COBOL), PD for
packed decimal (COMP-3 fields of COBOL), ZD for zone decimal and AQ for alternate collating
sequence (refer to later section on alternate collating sequence). The second form of the SORT
statement can be used when all the fields specified for the sort sequence are of the same type.

2.2 MERGE
The MERGE statement can be used merge two or more pre-sorted datasets. The MERGE
statement requires the sort sequence for the data. The list of fields and their formats must be
specified for this statement. The format of the MERGE statement is as follows.
MERGE FIELDS=({begcol},{length},{fieldtype},{D|A}[,{begcol},
{length},{fieldtype},{D|A}]...)
or
MERGE FIELDS=({begcol},{length},{D|A}[,{begcol},{length},
{D|A}]...),{fieldtype}
Please refer to SORT statement above for description of the statement.

2.3 INCLUDE AND OMIT

The INCLUDE statement can be used to specify the conditions for inclusion of records from the
input during processing. The OMIT statement can be used to specify the conditions for exclusion
of records from the input during processing. Both statements cannot be used together. The
different formats of the INCLUDE and OMIT statements are shown below.
INCLUDE COND=({begcol1},{length1},{fldtype1},{comp.oper},
{begcol2},{length2},{fldtype2})
The above statement can be used to compare two fields within the same record. The valid
comparison operators are EQ, NE, GT, LT, LE and GE.

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INCLUDE COND=({begcol},{length},{fldtype},{comp.oper},
{constant})
The above statement can be used to compare a field in the record with a character, decimal or
hexadecimal constant.
Using the convention that {cond.stmt} is the part of statement between the parenthesis in either of
the statements mentioned above, compound statements can be constructed as follows.
INCLUDE COND=({cond.stmt},[{OR|AND},{cond.stmt}]...)
Parenthesis can be used to group conditional statements to form complex conditions. For OMIT
statements replace the INCLUDE verb by OMIT verb in the above examples.

2.4 INREC AND OUTREC

The INREC statement can be specified to reformat the input records before SYNCSORT
processes them for SORT or MERGE. The OUTREC statement can be specified to reformat the
processed records into the required layout for the output records or the report that is generated.
The format for the INREC and OUTREC statements are similar.
INREC FIELDS=([{outpos}:]{begcol},{length}
[,[{outpos}:]{begcol},{length}]...)
The Outpos description is optional. This specifies the position in the output record where the field
must be placed. The default is to place it at the current position in the output record, placing the
first field specified at column 1.
The individual numeric fields can also be reformatted from any form to zone decimal. An
example syntax is given below.
INREC FIELDS=({begcol},{length},{fldtype},EDIT=M#)
or
INREC FIELDS=({begcol},{length},{fldtype},EDIT=SIII,IIT.TT)
Default picture clauses are provided and named M0 to M9. Customized picture clauses can be
specified by using appropriate syntax. In the example above, the S character is for sign field, I is
equivalent of Z PIC clause of COBOL and T is equivalent of 9 PIC clause. Conventions for the
sign displayed for numeric fields can be specified after the edit parameter, using SIGNS
parameter.
Constant fields can also be introduced in the record. For example, spaces or zeroes can be placed
in the record at specific positions.
NOTE: When using INREC fields, the column positions and lengths in the SORT, MERGE and
SUM statements must reflect the output from the INREC processing.

2.5 SUM
The SUM statement can be used to summarize data based on the SORT statement. One record
will be produced for each unique key present in the input. If numeric fields are specified for
summation, those fields will be summed up. The SYNCSORT software does not guarantee unique
records if numeric fields are required to be summed up. Whenever there is an overflow of a
numeric field, more than one record may be created. The syntax is as follows.
SUM FIELDS=NONE
or

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SUM FIELDS=({begcol},{length},{fldtype}[,{begcol},{length},
{fldtype}]...)
The first format is used when duplicate records need to be removed and no numeric summation is
required. The second format is used when numeric summation is required when duplicate records
exist.

2.6 ALTERNATE COLLATING SEQUENCE

The alternate collating sequence can be specified using the ALTSEQ statement. This will help the
user in sorting records in a different sequence than the EBCDIC character set. This may be
required in situations where the character codes for fields, that the user intends to sort on, are not
in EBCDIC collating sequence.
ALTSEQ CODE=({hexcode}{newhexcode}[,{hexcode}{newhexcode}]...)
The new hex code will be used for the sorting or merging process only for the appropriate hex
code specified for it. The new hex code will not replace the hex codes in the output or the reports.

2.7 OPTION STATEMENT

The option statement can be used to control parameters during SORT, MERGE and SUM
processing.

2.7.1 EQUALS AND NOEQUALS

The default of NOEQUALS specifies that SYNCSORT need not retain the order of input data
when duplicate record keys are found. OPTION EQUALS should be used if the order of input
data must be maintained during the SORT processing.
This parameter will affect the non-summation data in SUM processing. When EQUALS is used
the data for the non key fields are taken from the first input record for that key value. When
NOEQUALS is specified the data for the non keyfields are unpredictable.

2.7.2 RECORD
The record option of the OPTION statement can be used to specify if the input data to be
processed are Variable length records or Fixed length records. This is required when both the
input and output from the SORT or MERGE processing are VSAM files. The valid values are
RECORD=V and RECORD=F.

2.7.3 SKIPREC
The SKIPREC parameter of the OPTION statement can be used to specify the number of records
of input to skip before any processing should begin. SKIPREC=20 specifies that the first 20
records of the input must be skipped.

2.7.4 STOPAFT
The STOPAFT parameter of the OPTION statement can be used to specify the number of records
to be included for processing. STOPAFT=100 specifies that SYNCSORT stop taken any more
input after 100 records that match the criteria are selected.

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2.7.5 COPY
The COPY parameter can be used if a simple COPY operation is required. If neither SORT
processing nor MERGE processing is required this is ideal to use. The parameter when combined
with SKIPREC and STOPAFT helps copy selected records to output based on number of records.
If COPY is combined with INCLUDE or OMIT condition statements, selected records can be
copied to output based on specific conditions in field values. When COPY is combined with
INREC or OUTREC processing (INREC is more efficient in this case), a reformatted output can
be produced.

2.8 OUTFIL
The OUTFIL statement can be used to produce multiple output datasets. This statement must be
used if elaborate formatting is required, like producing reports. One OUTFIL statement is
required for each output dataset. The FILE parameter specifies the DD name suffix to be used for
the dataset output.
Each output dataset can have its own INCLUDE or OMIT condition and its own INREC and
OUTREC parameters. Further, report formatting is available, including 3 levels of HEADER#, 3
levels of TRAILER#, summation, Section processing and Section breaks. For example, this
statement can help create separate reports for each department into a different dataset or sysout
and route them to the appropriate destination.
The SYNCSORT manual should be referred if the OUTFIL statement is required.

3. JCL REQUIREMENTS
The different DD statements required for the SORT step are as follows.

3.1.1.1 SYSIN It should point to the SYNCSORT control statements mentioned

above.
SYSOUT It should point to a dataset or SYSOUT. This is where the SYNCSORT messages
are placed.
SORTIN This dataset should point to the input dataset(s) for the sort process.
SORTIN## These statements should refer to the individual datasets to be merged. These
individual datasets are required to be in pre-sorted order.
SORTOUT This dataset should point to the dataset where the output must be placed.
SORTOUT# These datasets should point to the individual output datasets referred in the
OUTFIL statements.
SORTOT## The same as SORTOUT#. There must be a one to one correspondence between the
FILES parameter in the OUTFIL statement and the list of DD statements specified.
SORTWK## These statements should refer to temporary volumes with appropriate space
parameters depending on the volume of data to be processed.

4. PROCESSING ORDER
The processing order of the control statements by SYNCSORT is as follows.

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1. INCLUDE or OMIT condition statement processing.

2. INREC statement processing.
3. SORT, MERGE or COPY processing (including alternate collating sequence
processing for SORT and MERGE).
4. SUM statement processing.
5. OUTREC processing.
The processing order will drastically change if OUTFIL statement is present in the SYSIN of
SYNCSORT. The processing is very complex if the OUTFIL statements use different INREC
statements and different INCLUDE or OMIT statements.

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