Re: R:gnubol: Record delimiter clause and parse order

[Matthew Vanecek <linuxguy@directlink.net>]

"William M. Klein" wrote:
> 
> Assuming that we will want SOME support for "line sequential" files, I will
> tell you that you run into some "strange" situations as far a how to handle
> them in the MOST ANSI compliant way.  This is because they really aren't
> fixed length and they really aren't variable length.  Therefore, sometimes
> you want to follow one set of rules - and other times, the other rules.
> 

Well, be kindof like fgets--read up until the next delimiter.  If it
overflows, truncate.  Not our fault if people don't write their FDs
correctly for the file!! ;)

> For example, can you or can you not "rewrite" a line sequential file with a
> record of a different length than the one you read (assuming that both are
> shorter than the record size in the FD).  Similarly, when do you get a FS=39
> when opening such files - what attributes are and are not checked?

No, you cannot.  There seems to be some debate about whether or not
sequential files (i.e., organization, not access) are even allowable for
rewrites.  The draft standard is rather ambiguous on this point. I'll
double check (this is from memory), but IIRC, MF is crystal clear--the
only types of files (i.e., organization) for which REWRITE is
permissible are indexed and relative.    
As I said, I'll double check at work tomorrow.  Shouldn't make a big
difference either way, though.

> 
> I can't remember all the other "oddities" that these caused when I was Micro
> Focus, but I do remember that there were some "strange" rules for these types
> of files.
> 

Yeah, MF has some strange goings-on. :/

-- 
Matthew Vanecek
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