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[SK]

Hi,

I am sorting a file containing a column with the following type of data. It is a fixed block file and this is the first column in the file.

Data is as follows:

..0-A8CD
..1-108V
..1-109V
..B-239
..Z-2SL
..N-245

Sorted file is as follows:

..B-239
..Z-2SL
..N-245
..0-A8CD
..1-108V
..1-109V

Could anyone please let me know the reason for this.

[kolusu]

Sk,

I guess this is the continuation of the other topic where you had a problem with matching files. Btw are you able to fix the error ? You are eager to get an answer, but you don't show the same eagerness to post a feedback. posting a feedback helps in future searches if any one is dealing with the same problem.

One more thing please post the questions in the appropriate forum. The questions involving sort should be posted in "utilities" forum. I am moving this question to the utilities forum.

I remember that you are sorting the data as a character data. But if you look at the data the first 2 bytes are not displayable which makes me suspect that the data is either BINARY or COMP-3. so sorting this data as character data will not yield correct results.

open the input dataset in either browse mode or update mode

Type HEX ON at the command prompt

If the data is comp-3 you will find something like this

[Frank Yaeger]

Note that you can also use a DFSORT job to see what the data looks like in hex, e.g.