Re: Sorting file based on variable string

[Booth Martin <booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Can you create a logical file by LastName, Address, FirstName, (or 
whatever) and then do a reorganize of the [hysical file based on the 
logical file?

On 1/21/2012 1:10 PM, Vinay Gavankar wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a flat file, which has fields delimited by field separators and a 2
> character field tag. The actual fields are variable length, so not in a
> fixed position.
>
> For example, my field separator is hex '1C' and the field tags are A1 thru
> A6. Tag A1 denotes First name, A2 Last name, A3 Address Line 1, A4 Address
> Line 2 etc.
>
> I want to sort by last name, which will be a variable length field, and
> could occur anywhere in the record (as the First name is also of variable
> length). It will always be enclosed between hex '1C'A2 and hex '1C' (it
> will never be the first or the last field in the record).
>
> What would be the best way of doing this? (The only solution I have is to
> write a program to create an intermediate file, with the Last Name as a
> separate field).
>
> The file is actually 4000 bytes and has about 18 million records, but this
> would be a one time effort.
>
> TIA
> Vinay