Chapter 4 239
Command Definition F-K
FILE
Parameters for Option
recsize Record size. A positive number indicates words; a negative number
indicates bytes for new files only. For fixed-length files, this is the logical
record size. For undefined length files, this is the maximum record size.
For variable-length files, this is the maximum logical record size if
blockfactor is 1. If not, this is used to calculate the maximum logical record
size and physical record size.
For byte-stream files, recsize is assigned a length of 1 byte.
Records always begin on word boundaries. Therefore, the record size is
rounded up to the nearest word boundary for block size calculations. For a
binary file or a variable-length ASCII file, odd byte lengths are rounded up
and the extra byte is available for data.
However, if an odd-byte-length record size is specified for a fixed or
undefined length record file, the extra byte is not available for data.
Default is the configured physical record width of the associated device. If
you do not use the DEV= parameter, the default is DISC with 1023 records.
For example, a fixed-length ASCII file with a record size specified as 11
bytes has only 11 bytes available for data in each logical record. However,
to determine actual block size, 12 bytes are used for the record size (block
size = 12 bytes multiplied by the blockfactor). If the file is specified as a
binary file, the 11 bytes are rounded up to 12 bytes (6 words), all of which
are available for each logical record.
This is the only option parameter that applies to $STDIN, $STDINX, or
$STDLIST; if you specify other option parameters for these files, FILE
returns an error.
blockfactor Number of logical records per physical block, for new files only. Default is
calculated by dividing the specified recsize into the configured block size;
this value is rounded downward to an integer that is never less than 1. For
variable-length record files, blockfactor is set to 1 after using the original
value along with recsize to calculate maximum logical record size and
physical record size. (This does not apply to message files.) The blockfactor
is ignored for undefined-length records. Maximum size is 255.
For byte-stream files, blockfactor is set to 1.
F, U, V or B Defines the format of the records of the file. A file may contain fixed-length
records (F), undefined-length records (U), variable-length records (V), or
byte-stream format (B). Default is F for disk files.
BINARY or ASCII Indicates the type of records. BINARY indicates binary-coded records and
is the default. ASCII indicates ASCII-coded records.
Byte stream files are ASCII coded.
density Corresponds to tape densities in BPI (bytes-per-inch) for new files only.
This parameter is only applicable when writing to a tape mounted on the
HP 7976A, HP 7978A, or HP 7980 variable-density tape drive.
