Re: PF - variable length records

Hi Deb,

Variable length records are prefixed with a two or four byte binary
length indicator(Cobol book says 4 but I remember trying to convert some
mainframe stuf and we needed to use two). The program must inspect this
to correctly know where the end of the record is. Variable length
records are only supported for tape files. You need to buffer the full
length of the max record in the program. For output files, the balance
of the record is padded with blanks.

Now as the other folks suggested, you may be better off with fixed
length records, and it sounds from what you said that that is what you
have in a master/detail relationship.

Turner, Deb wrote:
> 
> Can someone give me the jest of how to define 1 physical file with variable
> record lengths?  I'm  thinking we use different record formats.  An example
> or a manual (and we know how hard it is to find something in a manual) would
> be nice.
> 
> i.e.
> this is a header record 23 long
> this is a detail record that needs to be 70 long
> 
> Your advice is appreciated !
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Deb
> 
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