Specifying Length (l) in Field_name Dictionary Statements - mfx - 3.1

Syncsort™ MFX Programmers Guide

Product type
Software
Portfolio
Integrate
Product family
Syncsort™ software
Product
Syncsort™ MFX > MFX
Version
3.1
ft:locale
en-US
Product name
Syncsort™ MFX
ft:title
Syncsort™ MFX Programmers Guide
Copyright
2025
First publish date
2010
ft:lastEdition
2026-01-27
ft:lastPublication
2026-01-27T08:05:35.548000
L1_Product_Gateway
Integrate
L2_Product_Segment
IBM Infrastructure
L3_Product_Brand
Precisely Syncsort
L4_Investment_Segment
Mainframe
L5_Product_Group
MF Sort/ZPSaver
L6_Product_Name
Syncsort MFX

Following are the rules for specifying length (l) in field_name dictionary statements:

  • l can be a number from 1 through 32752.

  • l can be in the form of m.n for specifying a bit length, where m is a number from 0 through 32752 and n is a number from 0 through 7. Note that m and n cannot both be zero.

  • l can be an equal sign (=), which assigns the previous length to l. If the previous length has not yet been determined when = is read, MFX will generate an error message.

    Note that use of = for l can result in incorrect length values if fields are inserted at some later date.

If the dictionary table is printed, it will display the actual lengths that were assigned when = was specified for l. For example, consider the following dictionary statements:

Figure 1. Sample Dictionary Statements

The dictionary table will reflect the following substitutions made by MFX:

Figure 2. Sample Dictionary Table