Sorting a hexadecimal field.

kbmkris · Active User Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 101

hi,

I have a hexadecimal field in my input file. I want to sort that file in that field in acending order. Can anyone help me in doing this? What type of format i have to use? I have only SYNCSORT in my shop.

I tried to sort the file with the format F, but it doesn't come correctly.

Thanks,
Bala

William Thompson · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:37 pm

As far as it goes, there is no such thing as a hexadecimal field.
That said, "format F"?
Treat the two columns as character and it will sort just fine.
What order do you want vs what order did you get?
What do your sort control parms look like?

kbmkris · Active User Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 101

hi,

My sort card looks like this.

William Thompson · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:49 pm

A2
AF

B8
BJ

C5
CA

So for all 10 columns you want numerics to sort ahead of alphabetics?

kbmkris · Active User Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 101

William Thompson · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:58 pm

Again, did you look in the manual?

Chapter 2. SyncSort Control Statements
Sample ALTSEQ Control Statements
ALTSEQ CODE=(F0B7,F1B8,F2B9,F3BA,F4BB,F5BC,F6BD,F7BE,F8BF,F9C0)
Figure 7. Sample ALTSEQ Control Statement
This sample ALTSEQ control statement shows that the numbers 0 through 9 are to collate
before the uppercase alphabet.

kbmkris · Active User Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 101

Hi William,

Yes I have the manual and I looked into that. But the thing is how can i find the corresponding hex code for alphabets and digits? And i haven't ever used the ALTSEQ, a little bit hesistance as i am not aware of it. Could you help me how to find the hex code for alphabets and digits?
Thanks for your valuable information.

Thanks,
Bala

William Thompson · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:20 pm

The posted example is exactly what you want:
"numbers 0 through 9 are to collate before the uppercase alphabet".
Just include it and you will get what you want.

kbmkris · Active User Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 101

ok. Thanks William.

Thanks,
Bala

dick scherrer · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:16 pm

Hello,

While on the pc and unix systems, it is "normal" for numbers to sort ahead of letters. This is not true on the mainframe.

While you can force the sequence you want, you may have problems using it in your application programs. Anything that compares one value to another will compare the numbers as a higher value than the letters eventhought they are presented "out of order". Any "keys" in vsam or database will use the standard collating sequence, not the "ALTSEQ".

If the only reason for this sequence to is to download, you may be ok, but if the ALTSEQed output is to be used on the mainframe, there may be problems.