Accessing Auxiliary Storage: FILE › The FILE Transaction and Menus › Character Format

Character Format

The following screen shows a record displayed in character format.

 DATATYPE= FC FILEID= INVNTRY  MODE=BROWSELOG=OFF TODEST=      PASSWORD=  
 FUNC= NEXT SUBFUNC=      RETMETH=        ARGTYP=     SRCHTYP=                   
 MESSAGE= RECORD OBTAINED FOR VIEWING                                            
  RETNRCID=0000000005                                          CHGELEN=
     RCID=                                                                       
     DATA=                                                     SIZE= 0080
 FORMAT= C 00000000011111111112222222222333333333344444444445         
 LOC 00001 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890        
           ..................................................  DSORG=VSKS
  00001    0000000005      0399....               ABC CORP09   RECFM=VB
  00051    1287  ....   JOHN   SMITH                           LRECL=0080
  00101                                                        BLKSIZE=00000
  00151                                                        KEYPOS=00001
  00201                                                        KEYLEN=010
  00251                                                        STRNO=001
  00301                                                               
  00351                                                        READ       
  00401                                                        BROWSE 
  00451                                                                       
  00501                                                                 
  00551                                                           
  
 1 Help       2 Format V   3 End        4 ENDB    5 PREV   6 DataType DL
 7 Page bwd   8 Page fwd   9 Caps Off  10 Top    11 Bottom 12  

In this screen, the record displays in horizontal lines containing up to 50 characters per line and non‑displayable bytes are represented by periods.

Character format has the following characteristics:

Record/segment display—50 characters per line

Numeric information (such as, SIZE, LOC)—decimal numbers

Field entry—character, decimal, or universal mode

Position of first byte of data in record or segment—LOCation 1

The LOC field determines where the display starts.

Example

If the LOC field specifies 0065, the first byte of data displayed is the 65th byte of the record.

The line numbers under the LOC field and the vertically arranged scale to the right of the FORMAT and LOC fields help you determine the position of any byte of data. Each line number indicates the first byte of data in that line.

To locate a particular byte, first go down to the correct line number, and then go across to the correct position.

Example

To locate the 65th byte of data in the record in the previous figure, go down to LOC line 00051, and then across to position 15. This byte contains a J.