Can we do the sort without workfile

Dsingh29 · Active User Joined: 16 Dec 2008 Posts: 132 Location: IBM

Hi All,

I have a doubt, can we do a sort without using the work file/temp file?

If yes, then how and in what conditions do we really need workfile/temp file.

Thanks in advance. !!

Robert Sample · Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:00 pm

All the sort packages tend to try to do the sort in memory first. If there is more data than will fit in memory, work files will be required. So the answer to your question is that it depends upon how many records you're trying to sort, how big they are, how much memory the sort package can allocate, and so forth.

Frank Yaeger · Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:20 pm

Dave,

As Robert says, the answer is "it depends". DFSORT can choose among combinations of memory, memory objects, hiperspace, data space and work data sets to do a sort. Which combination is chosen depends on various factors such as the size of the input file. It's best to always give DFSORT the option of using work data sets if they are needed. By default, DFSORT will dynamically allocate work data sets if they may be needed. You would actually have to take specific actions to prevent DFSORT from using work data sets if it may need them.