If you are not using the CONVERT option to convert variable-length records to fixed-length records, you must observe these rules when you specify the FIELDS parameter for variable-length records:
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Remember to specify 4 bytes for the Record Descriptor Word in the first output field. You can include the 4 bytes in the length value of the first field if the first field in the original data record is also the first field specified in the FIELDS parameter.
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To include any portion of the variable part of the input records, specify a position value without a length value as the last entry. The only subparameters you can specify after the position value are the HEX and TRAN conversion subparameters. (Refer to the FIELDS subparameters sections HEX and TRAN.)
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If INREC or OUTREC processing changes the output record length, the contents of the Record Descriptor Word will be automatically revised by the sort.