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1989-04-01
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ParaSort v4.20 ParaSort v4.20 ______________
A Product of A Product of ____________
Christopher J. DeGreef Christopher J. DeGreef ______________________
6623 Stowe Court 6623 Stowe Court ________________
Lisle, IL 60532 Lisle, IL 60532 _______________
Install ParaSort by simply copying PS.EXE, PSP.EXE, and PS.ERR to
the same directory on your disk, floppy or hard drive, it doesn't
matter. Then add that directory to your path.
Files: (* indicates for registered users only.)
PS.EXE ParaSort v4.20 executable program
PSP.EXE ParaSort Compiler v1.20 executable program
PS.ERR ParaSort v4.20 error messages
PS420.DOC ParaSort v1.20 - v4.20 documentation
* *.C ParaSort Compiler v1.20 Turboc source code
PSDBIII.EXE dBASE III file interface
PSDBIII.DOC dBASE III interface help file
* PSDBIII.C dBASE interface TURBOC source code
PSDEMO.BAT Demonstration batch file
PSDEMO__.SPC ParaSort demonstration sort specifications
ParaSort can:
- COPY, SORT and MERGE your files
- reformatting the input file as it is read if requested
- skipping and limiting the input and/or output records
- including/excluding dBASE header records
- writing the output records to one or more output files
- SELECTing only certain records for each file based on
complex record selection criteria. Include based on record
and byte position on input and/or output
- formatting each output file exactly how you would like it,
including the ability to calculate fields
- sort the output on as many key fields as necessary of any
data type
- NEW data type called QUOTED allows you to define a sort key
that may contain quotes, tick marks, and commas, and
PARASORT will ignore them
- Sort on ascending, descending, and absolute values of keys.
- convert fixed length records to variable length records and
back again
- eliminate duplicates or place them in an expected order;
first, last, or don't care
- use a special workdisk for more efficient sorting.
COMMAND SYNTAX DIAGRAMS COMMAND SYNTAX DIAGRAMS _______________________
SORT <input file name>
COPY
MERGE <primary file name>, <secondary file name>
* GIVING <output file name>
LRECL <size of record in bytes>
RECORDS <number of records in input file(s)>
VARIABLEINPUT
VARIABLEOUTPUT
* SELECT <equation>
* INRECORD <type>,<output pos> <equation>
* OUTRECORD - or -
C,<out pos>,<length>,<precision> <equation>
DUPS FIRST
NODUPS - or -
LAST
- or -
DONTCARE
* INLIMITS <number of records to skip>, <number of
* OUTLIMITS records to take>
- or -
<number of records to skip>, ALL
* CHARACTER <input record position>,<length> [direction]
* QUOTED
* DISPLAY
* INTEGER <input record position> [direction]
* UNSIGNED
* LONG
* FLOAT
* DOUBLE
[direction] ASCENDING
AASCENDING
DESCENDING
ADESCENDING
- 2 -
ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
COMMAND SYNTAX DIAGRAMS COMMAND SYNTAX DIAGRAMS _______________________
TRANSFER <number of bytes>
WORKDISK <one character>
* Command may be repeated as required.
Notes:
Capitalized words are required. Replace bracketed phrases
with the requested information. Commas are required where
indicated. -or- separates alternate forms of the command
and is not part of the command itself.
- 3 -
ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS _________________________________________
@<file name> Used to specify a file on disk that contains
ParaSort specifications. This file can be
edited with any ASCII word processor.
-B<file name> Used to specify a compiled (BIN) sort
specification file. If sort commands are
entered this will be the output file name for
the compiled BIN file. If no sort commands
are specified, this will be the input file
name and ParaSort will re-process the
commands that were entered when the original
sort was executed.
-S Used to cause a statistical summary to be
displayed on the screen after ParaSort has
completed.
-U Used to convert all literals in parameters to
upper case.
-M<K bytes> Used to limit the amount of memory that the
sort will use.
-O Used to suppress the use of a configuration
file. A configuration file contains regular
ParaSort commands and, if present, is
included in each sort before any other
commands are processed. Its name is always
PS.CFG and it must reside in the same
directory as PS.EXE to be found by ParaSort.
Sort commands and command line options can be
included in the configuration file.
-T Used to suppress the truncation (truncation ________
is the default) of extra bytes at the end of
a file. When the file size is not a multiple
of LRECL the remaining bytes are normally
dropped. With this option they are made into
a new record and padded with NULLS (0x00).
-N Used to cause ParaSort to create an audio
response when the processing has completed.
The sound will continue until a key is
pressed.
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS _________________________________________
DOS Sort program emulation extensions
/R The DOS sort command to reverse sort the
file.
/+<number> The DOS sort command to change the default
sorting position from the first byte to
another position.
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS _________________________________________
Literals
A literal is a constant value that will be inserted into a record
or used as a comparison in a SELECT command. A literal takes the
format of t'...' where "t" is the type of data that the literal
represents. See the definition of "type". For example, if you
wish to compare an integer number in a record and select only
those that are greater than 100 you would code a select command
something like this:
SELECT (i,1 > i'100')
This says that all records with an integer in position one that
is greater that 100 should be selected.
OUTRECORD C,1,. (C'AAAAA')
This says that the output record consists of a character field
starting in position one and is made up of 5 characters (5 bytes)
of the quoted literal. Since the literal-equation evaluates to
"AAAAA" the output record would contain a 5 character field,
"AAAAA".
A quote may be placed within a literal. Literals can be enclosed
in either single quote marks or double. To include double quote
marks as part of the literal, do something like this:
'Tom said "Hello world".'
To include single quote marks in a literal do this instead:
"Tom said 'Hello world'."
Be careful when using literals on the command line. Most often,
it is safest to use literals in SPECification files, where they
always work as stated. When they are used on the command line,
DOS tends to pre-edit them and eliminate the double quote marks.
Also, DOS treats the > and <, as well as the | as IO redirection
characters, regardless of quotation marks.
System Literals
Several system variables may be accessed though type "S"
literals. Within the quotes of an "S" literal can be one of
several system variable names. At run time, ParaSort will insert
the value of the system variable inplace of the system variable.
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS COMMAND LINE OPTIONS and GENERAL COMMENTS _________________________________________
The system variables are:
s"RECIN" The record counter of the input file.
s"RECOUT" The record counter of the output file.
s"POSIN" The byte counter of the input file.
s"POSOUT" The byte counter of the output file.
s"RND" A random, positive integer, 0 to 32767.
s"TRUE" The integer 1. Evaluates to true in equations.
Comments
Comments can be freely added to the sort commands except they may
not be inserted in literals or file names, or break up reserved
words. A comment is identified with a leading sharp (#) and
ended with a sharp character. All characters between the shsrps
are comments and will be displayed on the console as ParaSort is
running. Comments are retained in the compiled SBN files so that
they can be displayed on subsequent executions.
General
ParaSort commands may be entered on the command line at execution
time, in specification files (using the @ command line option),
and in the configuration file (PS.CFG in the same directory as
PS.EXE). Command line options can not be included in
specification files. Also, command line options are not stored
in compiled SBN files.
SBN (compiled sort BIN) files are created (overwritten) when new
ParaSort commands are specified and the -B option is used. If
the -B option is used and no new ParaSort commands are entered
then the SBN file must exist and it will be used to determine the
processing that will take place.
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
AASCENDING aasc Use this after the definition of a key to
indicate that it should be sorted in ASCII
absolute ascending sequence. Absolute
means without regard to numeric sign or
alphabetic case.
ADESCENDING adesc Use this after the definition of a key to
indicate that it should be sorted in ASCII
absolute descending sequence. Absolute
means without regard to numeric sign or
alphabetic case.
ASCENDING asc Use this after the definition of a key to
indicate that it should be sorted in ASCII
ascending sequence.
CHARACTER c Used to specify the location and length of
a string of characters for a key.
COPY cop Used to initiate the copy function of
ParaSort. No keys can be specified and
LRECL must be specified if record
modification commands are issued. Under no
circumstances can multiple output files be
specified during a copy operation. Use
SORT instead. SORTing on a newly added
field of s'REC' will effectively copy the
file without changing the order.
DESCENDING desc Use this after the definition of a key to
indicate that it should be sorted in ASCII
descending sequence.
DISPLAY dn Used to specify the location and length of
a display numeric field to be used as a
sort key. A display numeric field contains
printable numbers and optionally a decimal
point, leading sign, an E for scientific
notation with an optional sign immediately
following it, and commas.
format= <sn><0-9><.><0-9> <E><sn><0-9>
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
DONTCARE d Use in conjunction with the DUPS/NODUPS
commands. Indicates to ParaSort that you
don't have a preference for which one of
duplicate records are ordered first. Most
efficient of duplicate options.
DOUBLE d Used to specify the location of a double
real number to be used as a key. The
declaration of this type of field in the
"C" language is LONG FLOAT and is eight
bytes in length.
EQUATIONS Equations are statements that are evaluated
at run time by ParaSort. Equations are
used in three commands; SELECT, INRECORD
and OUTRECORD. In the SELECT command, the
equation evaluates to a true or false
value. True is any number that is greater
than zero or any character string that has
a length greater than zero. All other
equation values are false.
In the INRECORD and OUTRECORD commands, the
equation returns a numeric or character
string value.
All equations must begin and end with a
pair of brackets (one of: (, [, {, }, ],
)). Pairs of brackets may be used anywhere
within the equation to force the order of
evaluation.
Many operators are accepted:
addition +, PLUS
subtraction -, MINUS
multiplication *, TIMES
division /, DIV
equal to =, EQUALS, EQ
not equal to !=, NE, <>
greater than >, GT
not greater than !>, NG, <=
less than <, LT
not less than !<, NL, >=
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
logical and AND
logical or OR
Variables can be of two different types;
field location references and literals. A
location reference is comprised of a field
type, a position in the record, and if the
field type is C or X, a length. The record
that contains the field is determined by
the command that contains the equation. If
the SELECT command is being used then the
reformatted input record will be what is
refered to. If the INRECORD command is
being used then the unformatted input
record is referred to, and if the
OUTRECORD command is being used then the
reformatted input record is used.
Commas must separate the items in a field
location reference. EX: (c,1,3 = c'ABC').
As in:
SEL(c,10,3 != c'EXE' and c,10,3 != c'COM')
- or -
IR c,1,5,0
(s'RECIN' / i'2' + i'1')
Literal fields are comprised of a type and
a quoted string of characters. See TYPE
for details.
DUPS dups Used to tell ParaSort that there may be
duplicate records in the file. With the
duplicate resolver options of FIRST, LAST,
and DONTCARE you can indicate how ParaSort
should order these duplicates.
FIRST f Used in conjunction with the DUPS/NODUPS
commands. Indicates that when records with
duplicate keys are encountered, ParaSort
should place then in the original sequence
as they were found. In the case of the
NODUPS command, the first record of the
duplicates will be retained and the others
- 10 -
ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
will be dropped from the output file.
FLOAT f Used to specify the location of a real
number to be used a key. The declaration
of this type of field in the "C" language
is FLOAT and is four bytes in length.
GIVING g Used to specify the name of the output
to file(s). This can include a drive
> specifier and path. If the file exists, it
will be deleted first. If the directory
does not exist, it will be created. At
least one output file must be specified.
Unless the input was redirected, in which
case the output will appear on the console.
If multiple output files are specified
(using the GIVING command more than once)
the SELECT, OUTRECORD, and VARIABLEOUTPUT
commands are associated with the preceding
GIVING command. Any of these commands that
are used before specifying a GIVING file
will be treated as global commands and
affect every output file. This allows you
to select certain records to be included in
particular files and to format each of the
output files differently.
The ">" causes the output to be redirected
to a file. Strictly speaking, this is not
a ParaSort command; it is a command line
option. It is listed here because Giving
and ">" are mutually exclusive. And
because the output will not appear on the
console, as stated above, if redirection is
used.
INLIMITS il Used to limit the input to ParaSort.
Specifies the number of records to skip
over and the number of records to include.
You may skip 0 or more records and take
more than 0 or ALL records.
INRECORD ir Used to reformat the records as they are
read from the input file. Any non-
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
formatted positions in a newly formatted
record are space filled. The receiving
field position may be replaced with a "."
(period) if ParaSort should calculate the
next available position in the record.
If the type of the receiving field is "C"
for character string, a comma and the
length of the field must follow the sending
field description. and a comma and a
precision number must follow that. An
example:
INRECORD C,1,7,2 (F,5)
meaning; move a floating point number
starting in position 5 of the input record
and convert it to a character string
starting in position 1 for a length of 7 of
which 2 will be decimal characters.
The precision specification is required for
character comversions. Even if it is not a
number that is being inserted as in
INRECORD C,1,5,0 (c'HELLO')
Always place a ,0 if the field does not
apply.
An alternate coding of the INRECORD command
can be done under special circumstances
only.
1. The receiving field type is C or X.
2. The first field in the equation is
type C or X.
3. You want the receiving field to be
the same size as the result of the
equation.
The command would look something like:
IR C,1,. (c'HELLO')
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
The period states that the length of the
field should be calculated from the length
of the result of the equation. The
precision parameter is not allowed, and not
needed, when the period (.) is used.
All key, SELECT, and OUTRECORD positions
must be calculated according to the newly
formatted record.
INTEGER i Used to specify the location of an integer
field to be used as a key. The declaration
of this in the "C" language is INT and is
two bytes in length.
LAST l Used in conjunction with the DUPS/NODUPS
commands. Indicates that when records with
duplicate keys are encountered, ParaSort
should place then in the opposite of the
original sequence as they were found. In
the case of the NODUPS command, the last
record of the duplicates will be retained
and the others will be dropped from the
output file.
LONG l Used to specify the location of an long
integer field to be used as a key. The
declaration of this field in the "C"
language is LONG INT and is four bytes in
length.
LRECL r Used to specify the length of a record for
fixed length files. It is also used to
tell ParaSort the maximum length of
variable length records. For variable (VI)
length records you must account for the CR
LF at the end of each record. This
increases the records size by 2 bytes. Do
not specify this for the COPY operation
unless you are also specifying record
modifications. ParaSort will operate much
faster if it can decide it's own record
size.
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
MERGE m Used to merge two files together. The
files must be previously sorted in the same
keys. You must also specify these same
keys when you this command. If no GIVING
(TO) option is specified then the first
file in the MERGE command is replaced with
the merged output.
NODUPS nd Used to tell ParaSort that there may be
duplicate records in the file and that you
only want to retain one of them. With the
duplicate resolver options of FIRST, LAST,
and DONTCARE you can indicate how ParaSort
should select the proper duplicate to
retain.
OUTLIMITS ol Used to limit the output of ParaSort.
Specifies the number of records to skip
over and the number of records to include.
You may skip 0 or more records and take
more than 0 or ALL records.
OUTRECORD or Used to reformat the records as they are
written to the output file(s). The meaning
of this command varies slightly with the
placement of it with respect to the GIVING
command. If it precedes all GIVING
commands the OUTRECORD command will be
treated as a global output format
specification; it will affect all output
files. If it follows a GIVING command,
then it applies only to that output file.
Any non-formatted positions in a newly
formatted record are space filled. The
positional references in this command refer
to the newly formatted input record if the
INRECORD command was issued. The receiving
field position may be replaced with a "."
(period) if ParaSort should calculate the
next available position.
If the type of the receiving field is "C"
for character string, a comma and the
length of the field must follow the sending
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ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
field description and a comma and a
precision number must follow that. An
example:
OUTRECORD C,1,7,2 (F,5)
meaning; move a floating point number
starting in position 5 of the input record
and convert it to a character string
starting in position 1 for a length of 7 of
which 2 will be decimal characters. See
INRECORD for more examples and further
options. All INRECORD parameters are valid
OUTRECORD parameters as well.
POSIN Used to reference the actual byte position
of the current record being processed. The
first record in the file is pos=1. This is
a long integer (LONG) field. This system
variable refers to the position in the
input file.
POSOUT Used to reference the actual byte position
of the current record being processed. The
first record in the file is pos=1. This is
a long integer (LONG) field. This system
variable refers to the position in the
output file.
QUOTED q Used to specify that a key is of the QUOTED
type. This is very similar to a character
type of key in that after all adjustments
are made, the field is sorted as a
character field.
These adjustments to a quoted field DO NOT
affect the contents of the record; they are
adjustments made only for sorting purposes.
Each sort key has all of its commas,
quotation marks, tick marks, and extraneous
white space removed before it is compared.
RECIN Used to reference the actual record
position of the current record being
processed. The first record in the file is
- 15 -
ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
rec=1. This is a long integer (LONG) field
and if it is inserted with the INRECORD
command, can be used as a part of the
record from then on. This system variable
refers to the record position in the input
file.
RECOUT Used to reference the actual record
position of the current record being
processed. The first record in the file is
rec=1. This is a long integer (LONG)
field. This system variable refers to the
record position in the output file.
RECORDS recs Used to specify the number of records in
the input file (or files in the case of a
merge command). This command is not
necessary when processing fixed length
record files because ParaSort computes the
number of records on the size of the file
and the LRECL. But for variable (VI) sized
records you should always specify RECS.
RND rnd Used to reference a system variable that is
a generated random number. This field is
an integer (INTEGER) field and if it is
inserted with the INRECORD command, can be
used as a part of the record from then on.
SELECT sel Used to select records from the input
file(s). The SELECT command operates
slightly differently depending on its
position with respect to the GIVING
command(s). If it precedes all GIVING
commands in the specifications, then it
will be treated as a global select and will
be "AND"ed with all other groups of
selects. If it follows a GIVING command
then the SELECT command will only apply to
that particular output file; selecting
records for inclusion. Records may only be
selected (included) in one output file.
The first time a record is selected is the
file that it will be placed in.
- 16 -
ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
If multiple selects are specified they are
logically combined together with ANDS. All
selects must be true for the record to be
selected for processing. All comparisons
are processed after all input record
reformatting is complete.
SORT s Used to initiate a sort process and the
< file name that will be sorted. For input
redirection ("<"), sort is always assumed.
Except for when input redirection is used
the input file will be replaced with the
sorted version unless GIVING is specified.
TRANSFER (X) tfr Used to specify a number of bytes as a
tfrx header area of a file that should be left
unsorted. The TFR command will transfer
this header area from the input file to the
output file before the sorted records are
added.
The TFRX command will skip over the header
area on the input file and NOT transfer it
to the output file.
type The type of a field describes how the data
is represented on disk. For instance, is
it a character ("C") or hexadecimal ("X")
data, is it an integer ("I") or a double
precision integer ("L"), a floating point
number ("F") or a double long floating
point number ("D"). Each type is stored
differently on disk.
Type "X" is not allowed for literals.
TYPE COMMAND LENGTH TYPE COMMAND LENGTH ____ _______ ______
CHARACTER C <variable>
HEXADECIMAL X <variable>
INTEGER I 2
LONG INTEGER L 4
FLOATING POINT F 4
DOUBLE FLOAT D 8
- 17 -
ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
Glossary of Terms Glossary of Terms _________________
Term Short Definition Term Short Definition ____ _____ __________
Version Version _______
UNSIGNED u Used to specify the location of an unsigned
integer field to be used as a key. The
declaration of this field in the "C"
language is UNSIGNED INT and is two bytes
in length.
VARIABLEINPUT vi Used to indicate that the input file has
variable length records in it. A variable
record ends in a carriage return (0x0D) and
a line feed (0x0A). Any occurrence of
these two characters together constitutes
the end of a record. All bytes at the end
of the file (usually a 0x1a) that are not
followed by a final CR-LF (or LF-CR) are
dropped from the output file. If LRECL is
not specified, VI is assumed, otherwise the
input is assumed to be fixed record length.
VARIABLEOUTPUT vo Used to indicate that the output file
should be written with variable length
records. A variable length record always
will end in a carriage return (0x0D) and a
line feed (0x0A). All trailing spaces in a
variable length record are trimmed before a
CRLF is added.
This command must follow a GIVING command
and is associated only with that output
file. VARIABLEOUTPUT is only assumed when
an input record size is not specified.
Otherwise, fixed length records will always
be written unless this command is issued.
WORKDISK w Used to indicate a particular disk,
diskette, or ram disk that will be used for
the sort work files. If not specified, the
current drive will be used.
- 18 -
ParaSort v4.10 (c)'89, C.J.DeGreef 6623 Stowe Ct Lisle, IL 60532
