SORT FIELDS

The SORT command is used to specify sorting criteria and features.

Syntax of SORT command:

SORT FIELDS= (sort-key1, sort-key2,…., sort-keyN)

Where, each sort-key consist of below four paramaters:-

Let’s understand SORT with help of example

Input file:-

Requirement: Sort above file on columns 1 to 5 in ascending order

JCL Code:

Output file:-

SORT COPY

The SORT control statement with FIELDS=COPY defines the application as a COPY application.

Where,
SKIPREC indicates the number of records to be skipped
STOPAFT indicates the number of records to process
CKPT/CHKPT indicates a checkpoint is desired at the end of volume of a SORTOUT data set when OUTFIL is not used.

Below are few more requirement which can be addressed using SORT command:

Example 1:

Requirement:To sort input file on column 1 to 5 on in descending order and 31 to 45 in ascending order
SYSIN Control card:

Example 2:

Requirement: To copy all records from SORTIN to SORTOUT without sorting it
SYSIN Control card:

Example 3:

Requirement: To copy records from row number 5 to 7 as it is from SORTIN to SORTOUT
SYSIN Control card:

Example 4:

Requirement: To concatenate two or more sorted or unsorted datasets into one sorted dataset on column 1 to 5 in ascending order
SYSIN Control card:
IMP NOTE: In SORTIN card three datasets are concatenated