Re: FMTDTA/#GSORT Challenge

You have a 6 digit packed MMDDYY date in positions 1-4 of a file.  How do
you sort the date in YYMMDD order using FMTDTA or #GSORT?

The zone and digit portions are used to sort each date character.  If the
"extra" high order position is used for century, then it can also sort on
century.

Needless to say, it is always best to pack dates as YYMMDD.  Somebody will want
a date sort sooner or later.  Alas, that's hindsight.  So this will accomplish
the same thing for those old-fashioned files.

Hex representation:

...20....+...30
      CMDY
      MDYZ
 

Date Portion of Sort Specs:

6..10....+...20....+...30..
HSORTR     7A        0X  32
FNZ  22  22
FND  24  24
FNZ  25  25
FND  22  22
FNZ  23  23
FND  23  23
FND  24  24

William J. Ihle
Caro, Michigan

 

For extra credit, how to you select a range of dates in MMDDYY format, e.g.
120297 to 011598>

This example assumes the date field is in position 31 through 36 of the record.
I think this will accomplish what you are trying to do though someone else may
have a better way.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 1: Selecting Date Ranges with #GSORT

// LOCAL OFFSET-1,DATA-'?1R?'     Load first date into LDA
// LOCAL OFFSET-7,DATA-'?2R?'     Load second date into LDA
// LOAD #GSORT
// FILE NAME-INPUT,LABEL-RS.TRAN
// FILE NAME-OUTPUT,LABEL-OUTFILE,RECORDS-?F'A,RS.TRAN'?
// RUN
     HSORTR     6A        3X  84   N
     O C  10  11LTC?L'5,2'?      Omit years less than start year
     OOC  10  11EQC?L'5,2'?      Omit years same as start year
     OAC   6   9LTC?L'1,4'?        and MM/DD are less than start MM/DD
     OOC  10  11GTC?L'11,2'?     Omit years greater than end year
     OOC  10  11EQC?L'11,2'?     Omit years same as end year
     OAC   6   9GTC?L'7,4'?        and MM/DD are greater than end MM/DD
     I                           Include all else
     FNC  10  11                 Sort on year
     FNC   6   9                   then MM/DD
     FDC   1  84                 Include all data
// END
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well there's my historic documented suggestions.
Do I get a free lottery ticket or something, thanks for the test of old-ability fluency.

--
:-) Tim & Dana Truax (-: