Micro Focus Visual COBOL 2.3 Update 1 for Eclipse (UNIX) > Programming > Data Access > File Handling > File Handling Guide > Sort Utilities > Invoking Mfsort

Invoking Mfsort

You can invoke mfsort from the command line in one of the following ways:

mfsort instructions

mfsort take filename

where the parameters are:

Parameter	Description
`instructions`	Mfsort instructions. When specifying instructions on the command line: The maximum length of the mfsort command is 1024 characters. Characters after this limit are ignored, and if this truncation causes an invalid command, an error is produced. Allow the shell to pass through special characters such as parentheses or comment characters (*) in one of the following ways: Use quotes """" to enclose parentheses Place an escape character \ directly in front of a parenthesis or a comment character
`filename`	A text file containing mfsort instructions. See the section Instructions. Use this method if you need to specify a lot of instructions. This file must be a line sequential file, and the first 256 characters are processed as the command line. Characters that exceed this limit are processed separately if they form a valid command; however, this may result in undesired sort results. If this truncation causes an invalid or incomplete command, an error is produced.

Parameter

Description

instructions

Mfsort instructions.

When specifying instructions on the command line:

The maximum length of the mfsort command is 1024 characters. Characters after this limit are ignored, and if this truncation causes an invalid command, an error is produced.
Allow the shell to pass through special characters such as parentheses or comment characters (*) in one of the following ways:
- Use quotes """" to enclose parentheses
- Place an escape character \ directly in front of a parenthesis or a comment character

filename

A text file containing mfsort instructions. See the section Instructions. Use this method if you need to specify a lot of instructions.

This file must be a line sequential file, and the first 256 characters are processed as the command line. Characters that exceed this limit are processed separately if they form a valid command; however, this may result in undesired sort results. If this truncation causes an invalid or incomplete command, an error is produced.