My actual requirement is to repeat the cobybook lines N times. normally I need it for 5 times to 40 times depending on the occurs clause (OCCURS clause is not supported by Delphix). Defining 40 CNTLs is not a optimal solution. I hope ICETOOL/DFSORT has the capability to do it.
I know I can do it in ReXX. But I love to do it in SORT/ICETOOL. Moreover a small portion of the requirement works
Since COBOL syntax is too flexible, a syntax parser is needed similar to the one included into COBOL compiler. It can be done, and once I had created two or three versions of it in ancient times (to convert COBOL copybooks to SYMNAMES layout for SORT-based file processing).
It makes sense only when there are hundred(s) of copybooks to be converted, but with some limitations on allowed COBOL coding rules. It took serious time to code it in REXX, but in SORT it would require 10 times more efforts - hence there is no reason to go for SORT.
I guess, for the mentioned task the total number of copybooks requiring such transformation is no more than 10 or 20, isn't it? In this case the manual conversion of 10-20 copybooks in ISPF editor, or any other standard tool, may require 50-100 less time than coding this converter in REXX, and 100-1000 times less time than coding it in SORT.
