The following is a list of some of the available field types:
| Field Type | Definition |
|---|---|
| AQ | Character with alternate collating sequence. |
| BI | COMP |
| C5 | COMP-5 |
| C6 | COMP-6 |
| CH | PIC X DISPLAY |
| CX | COMP-X |
| FL | Floating point, signed. |
| FS/CSF | Signed numeric, with optional leading floating sign. |
| LI/OL/CLO | PIC S9 LEADING INCLUDED |
| LS/CSL | PIC S9 LEADING SEPARATE |
| NU | PIC 9 DISPLAY |
| PD | PIC S9 COMP-3 |
| PD0 | Packed decimal with first semi-byte and sign semi-byte ignored. |
| SB/FI | PIC S9 COMP |
| S5 | S9 COMP-5 |
| SS | Substring. Used in conditions only. |
| TS/CST | PIC S9 TRAILING SEPARATE |
| TI/ZD/OT/CTO | PIC S9 TRAILING INCLUDED |
| Y2B | Two-digit, one-byte binary year data. |
| Y2C/Y2Z | Two-digit, two-byte year data, with optional trailing included sign. PIC 99 or PIC S99. |
| Y2D | Two-digit, one-byte packed decimal year data. PIC 99 COMP-6. |
| Y2P | Two-digit, two-byte packed decimal year data. PIC 99 COMP-3. |
| Y2S | Two-digit, two-byte character year data with special indicators. Binary zeros, blanks and binary ones are treated as special cases. |
| Y2T | Full date format, yyx... |
| Y2U | Full date format, yyx..., COMP-3. |
| Y2V | Full date format, yyx..., COMP-3. Ignores first semi-byte. |
| Y2W | Full date format, x...yy. |
| Y2X | Full date format, x...yy, COMP-3. |
| Y2Y | Full date format, x...yy, COMP-3. Ignores first semi-byte. |
You can find other field types defined in the IBM documentation at SORT Control Statement.
Suppose that golf.dat is a relative file defined in a COBOL program as follows:
file-control.
select members-file
assign to "/home/user/workarea/golf.dat"
organization is relative
access mode is random
relative key is relative-key.
data division.
file section.
fd members-file
record contains 28 characters.
01 members-record.
03 members-number pic 9(6).
03 members-lname pic x(10).
03 members-fname pic x(10).
03 members-handicap pic 9(2).
You can then use the following mfsort command to sort the file golf.dat on the field containing the membership number in ascending order:
mfsort sort fields(1,6,nu,a) use golf.dat record f,28 org rl give members.dat
The sorted version of the file is written to the file members.dat.