Concatenate files with different lengths?

Michael Mays · Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 9:18 pm

I am composing an Email with several attached files of different record lengths. We are attempting to use IEBGENER to concatenate the files then deliver the output to SMTP. Another post mentions that IEBGENER copy functions are intercepted by DFSORT(or SYNCSORT), which generates:
WER171A CONCAT DS, LRECLS NE OR RECFMS DIFF
SYNCSORT COPY FEATURE CALLED - RC = 12

Is there an easy way to do this? or do I need to manually(COBOL) reformat each file to a common LRECL?

Robert Sample · Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 9:27 pm

If the files are FIXED length, you must reformat all to match the length of the longest LRECL. If the files are VARIABLE length, you are not required to do so. Assuming, based upon your post, that they are fixed length you must do the reformat with a utility or a program.

Corey Hardy · New User Joined: 14 Apr 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Virginia

Assuming that the LRECL of your longest file is 200 and the LRECL of input file #1 is 80; the sort below will expand the LRECL of input file #1 from 80 to 200.

Michael Mays · Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 6:55 pm

Thanks Corey! I asked for "simple", that's what you gave me, and it worked perfectly. Now just got to figure out why SMTP won't send files with LRECL > 80 bytes... but that will probably be another post.

Robert Sample · Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 8:52 pm

SMTP quite happily handles files with records up to 998 bytes in length; if you aren't getting files with more than 80 bytes to send, it is something you are doing at your site. Of course, you cannot use DD * for records with lengths greater than 80, but I've sent many a file with longer record lengths by storing my commands and data into a PDS of the desired record length and using that as input.

Michael Mays · Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 10:25 pm

Thanks Robert. I guess that explains why my attachments of LRECL=3000 won't go.

Robert Sample · Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 11:24 pm

LOL -- sure does. RFC 2821 and 2822 describe SMTP in all its gory details. If you want to know more about them, Google either. The actual limit is 1000 bytes per line but the last two bytes are reserved for carriage return and line feed.