Keywords › Keyword Descriptions › POSITION › Parameters

Parameters

POSITION supports the following parameters:

old-field-name

Use old-field-name when referencing a data field that is defined in the record's layout. The layout must be available to the job step. For more information on how to make the record's layout available, see the keyword LAYOUTFILE.

Note: When this parameter is supplied, the keyword's oldfile-position and length are retrieved from the old-field-name's definition.

oldfile-position

Specifies the starting field position in the OLDFILE record. Valid choices are as follows:

1–32760

The actual position number.

length

Specifies the number of record positions to be compared. If you specify 0, the positions scanned start at the position parameters to the end of the records. Valid integer values are 0 – 32760.

new-field-name

Use new-field-name when referencing a data field that is defined in the NEW file’s record layout. The layout must be available to the job step. For more information on how to make the NEW record's layout available, see the keyword LAYOUTFILEN.

Note: When this parameter is supplied, the keyword's new-position and length are retrieved from the new-field-name's definition. If the old-field-name and new-field-name lengths are different, the length used will be the shorter of the two lengths.

newfile-position

Specifies the starting field position in the NEWFILE record to be compared. When this parameter is omitted its value is the same as the oldfile-position, or, if supplied, the old-field-name's starting position. Valid numeric values are as follows:

1–32760

The actual position number.

Example 1

This example syntax compares the field COMPARE-FIELD in the old and new files. Both the oldfile-position and the newfile-position are retrieved from the field's defined starting position.

COMPARE,
  LAYOUTFILE(LAYOUT),
  POSITION(COMPARE-FIELD)

Example 2

This example syntax compares positions 32, 33, 34, and 35 of the OLDFILE to positions 65, 66, 67 and 68 of the NEWFILE.

COMPARE,
  POSITION(32,4,65)

You can obtain the same results using the old-field-name parameter.

COMPARE,
  LAYOUTFILE(LAYOUT),
  POSITION(COMPARE-FIELD,65)

Example 3

This example syntax compares only positions 32, 33, 34, and 70, 71, 72 of both the NEWFILE and OLDFILE.

COMPARE,
  POSITION(32,3,32),
  POSITION(70,3,70)

Example 4

This example syntax compares the field COMPARE-FIELD in the old file to NEW_COMPARE_FIELD in the new file. The oldfile-position is retrieved from the field's defined starting position in the file referenced by LAYOUT. The newfile-position is retrieved from the field's defined starting position in the file referenced by LAYOUTN.

COMPARE,
  LAYOUTFILE(LAYOUT),
  LAYOUTFILEN(LAYOUTN),
  POSITION(COMPARE-FIELD,NEW_COMPARE_FIELD)