Searching a Data File

Running a search on the current data file enables you to limit the amount of records that are displayed at a time.

Your search is defined by one or more conditions, and you can produce results that include records matching all or any one of those search conditions.

There are two types of search condition that you can use in a search:

Reference condition

A reference condition uses the same principles as reference modification in your COBOL syntax. You specify the starting position within a record in which to start searching, and then specify the number of positions on from that in which to search; for example, values of 7:3 will search positions 7 to 9 within each record, as indicated below

Field condition

This type of condition is only available if you have applied a layout to your data file. A field condition searches the entire contents of the selected field. You can select any non-group field in the layout on which to search.

For both types of condition, you select a search value and an operator (for example, greater than, contains, or not equal to). There are also supplementary criteria to add to the condition, such as making it case sensitive, or trimming leading or trailing space from the area searched.

Data File Tools (Technology Preview) retains the last set of search results until another search is run, which enables you to toggle between displaying these results and displaying the original data file.