Micro Focus Visual COBOL 2.3 Update 2 for Eclipse (Windows) > Programming > Data Access > File Handling > File Handling Guide > File Organizations > Fixed-length and Variable-length Records

Fixed-length and Variable-length Records

A file can contain:

Fixed-length records - all the records are exactly the same length
Variable-length records - the length of each record varies

Using variable-length records might enable you to save disk space. When you use fixed-length records, you need to make the record length equal to the length of the longest record. If your application generates many short records with occasional long ones, using fixed-length records wastes a lot of disk space, so variable-length records would be a better choice.

The type of record is determined as follows:

To use:	Specify the clause:
Variable-length records	RECORDING MODE IS V
Fixed-length records	RECORDING MODE IS F

Otherwise:

To use:	Specify the clause:
variable length records	RECORD IS VARYING
fixed length records	RECORD CONTAINS `n` CHARACTERS

Otherwise:

To use:	Specify the Compiler directive:
variable length records	RECMODE"V"
fixed length records	RECMODE"F"

Otherwise, to use variable length records, specify the RECMODE"OSVS" Compiler directive plus one of the following:

RECORD CONTAINS n TO m CHARACTERS
More than one record area of different lengths