Combine/sort
fixed length data
The
Combine/sort
fixed length data dialog box
is split into
3 sections:
- Input files
- Sort options
- Output file and duplicate
options
Input files
- Select
input files lets you select the input files
to use.
- A dialog box is displayed
to allow selection of the files. When processing, files are read from
the input file window in top to bottom order. The Input files
dialog box
displays all
files that have been selected.
- Clear
files will
clear the Input files
dialog box.
Sort
options
There are 3 sort
fields available and contain the following options:
- No
sort - no
sorting will be applied to the output file. Input
files will be written to the output file in selected order.
- Ascending
- the sort will be in ascending
order across all input files.
- Descending
- the sort will be in descending
order across all input files.
When
Ascending
or Descending
has been selected
you must define where the field is located.
- Start
position
is the fields
starting position in the record.
- End
position
is the fields
ending position in the record.
- Length
is a generated
field. It automatically displays the length of the sort field.
When
multiple sort fields are selected, they are processed in order. For example,
if sort field 1 is the State and sort field 2 is the City. The output
will be in State order with
the Cities within each
State also in order.
Output
file and duplicate options
Save
as opens
a dialog box that allows you to specify the output
file name. You can also specify the file name by entering
the full path name in the Output
file field.
The following options are
only available when you have specified one or more sort fields:
- The filters are applied
to the sorted order of the output file NOT the input file order.
- Duplicate
field - selects
the sort field to use for duplicate filtering.
- Allow
duplicates - no filtering will be applied. All records
will be written to output file.
- Output
first duplicate -
the first
occurrence of the duplicate
field is written to the output file.
- Exclude
all duplicates - creates a file where
all duplicate values from the field selected are removed from the
output.
- Output
only duplicates -
creates an
output file where only duplicate values from the field selected are
written to the output file.
- Set
output record length -
allows the
output record length to be specified. The maximum output record length
is 32,000 characters.
Run
Selecting the
Run
button will check
for any entry errors and process the input files creating a new output
file. When
processing is
finished your entries will remain intact. This allows for changes
and the process easily repeated.
Close
Selecting the
Close
button will clear
all fields and return to the WCSortMerge
dialog box.