

It can be used in the same lines of DFSORT and can achieve the same features. It gives best utilization of system resources and efficient operation in 31-bit and 64-bit address spaces. SYNCSORT is used to copy, merge or sort datasets with a high performance. For example, a file containing names of employees can be split into 26 files, each containing the names starting with A, B, C and so on.ĭifferent combination of file manipulation is possible using ICETOOL with a little exploration of the tool. It can compare two or more files on specified field(s) and create one or more output files like file with matching records, file with non-matching records, etc.ĭata in one file in a particular position can be OVERLAYed into another position in the same or different file.Ī File can be split into n files based on a specified condition. SPLICE is a powerful operation of ICETOOL which is similar to SORT JOIN, but with additional features. ICETOOL can achieve all the functionalities of DFSORT in one or more conditions. Additional conditions can be specified in user defined 'CTL' DD statements.įew of the utilities of ICETOOL are given below: The file operations are specified in the TOOLIN DD statement. Input and output datasets can be defined using user defined DD names. ICETOOL is a multi-purpose DFSORT utility used to perform a variety of operations on datasets. Usually, this is not recommended in view of performance for large files. On the other way round, a SORT can be called internally from a COBOL program to arrange the input file in a particular order before being processed. Using a control card, data can be passed to the COBOL program. For example, if there is a header/trailer to be added to the output file, then a USER written COBOL program can be called from the SORT program to perform this functionality. When there is additional processing to be done on the input files, a USER EXIT program can be called from the SORT program. SORT JOIN two or more input files based on a specified JOIN KEY (field(s) in each input file). SORT MERGE input file(s) in the order of the specified field(s) position in the file. INCLUDE or OMIT records from the input file(s) based on the specified condition. SORT the input file(s) in the order of the specified field(s) position in the file. DFSORT is generally used to achieve the below functionalities: SYSIN DD statement is used to specify the sort and merge conditions. SORTOUT and OUTFIL statements are used to specify output data. SORTIN and SORTINnn DD statements are used to specify input datasets.

DFSORT OverviewĭFSORT is a powerful IBM utility used to copy, sort or merge datasets. These utility programs need to be used with appropriate DD statements in a JCL in order to achieve the specified functionality. When this JCL is executed, it executes the STEP1 and STEP3 of the actual JCL.Ĭreate, delete, rename, catalog, uncatalog datasets (other than PDS). In the SYSIN of IEBEDIT, we can specify STEP1 and STEP3 as parameters. For Example, if a JCL has 5 steps and we require to execute step 1 and 3 only, then a IEBEDIT JCL can be coded with a dataset which contains the actual JCL to be executed. It is usually used to create empty dataset or delete an existing dataset.įor example, if a dataset is passed as input to a IEFBR14 program with DISP=(OLD,DELETE,DELETE), the dataset is deleted at job completion. Used to return control to user and terminate. A few of them are listed below with their functionality: Utility Nameĭeleting and renaming datasets catalog or uncatalog datasets other than VSAM.<Ĭopy, Merge, compress, back-up or restore PDS. Utility programs are pre-written programs, widely used in mainframes by system programmers and application developers to achieve day-to-day requirements, organising and maintaining data.
