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F A S T S O R T 1.60 OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK AND PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE Version 1.60 - May 1990 copyright (c) 1989, 1990 DC Software 6705 Laramie Dr. Plano, Texas 75023 FastSort - Version 1.60 - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility The SHARE-WARE Licence Agreement -------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1988, 1989, 1990 by David A. Hernandez, DBA DC Software You are free to use, copy and distribute this product provided: - NO FEE IS CHARGED FOR IT. (See Note Below) - IT IS DISTRIBUTED COMPLETE IN IT'S ORIGINAL FORM WITH ALL THE ORIGINAL FILES. SEE BELOW FOR COMPLETE LIST OF FILES. - IT IS NOT MODIFIED IN ANY WAY. Distributors of Public Domain and Share Ware Software, Clubs, User Groups and others, my charge a fee (Maximum $10) for shiping, handling and other expenses. This program is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, fitness for a particular purpose. If you find this program useful, and continue to use it beyond a short trial period (about 1 month), you should send a registration fee of $25 the address below, in effect buying the product. Upon receipt of the registration fee, you will be sent the latest copy of the software, and will be entitled to free technical support by phone or mail. If you have any problems with the software, it will be addressed promptly. Suggestions for enhancements and/or bug reports are welcome. The first registered user to report a bug will get a free update when it is fixed. Unlimited use within a single physical building (Site License) is $100. Corporate Licenses available. Please write. The FASTSORT.EXE archived program contains the following files: FSORT.EXE The FASTSORT program. FSORT.DOC - The FASTSORT documentation. FSORT.LIC - The FASTSORT License Agreement. (This Page) FSORT.FRM - The FASTSORT registration form. FSORT.LST - List of bugs and enhancements up to this version. EZSORT.EXE The FASTSORT easy to use, full screen interface. EZSORT.HLP - A simple help file for the EZSORT interface. DBINFO.EXE A utility to display DBASE-III file headers. Enjoy. DC Software 6705 Laramie Dr. Plano, TX 75023 FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 1 Table of Contents ----------------- Topic Page ----- ---- Table of Contents .................................. 1 General Information ................................ 2 Notation, Running FASTSORT ......................... 3 Quick Reference Card ............................... 4 Full Command Reference ............................. 5 Files and Records .................................. 8 SuperSort(tm) Compatibility ........................ 9 Fields and Key Types................................ 10 Output File Options ................................ 12 Key Transformations ................................ 15 Examples and Tips .................................. 17 What the future holds .............................. 19 The EZSORT interface ............................... 20 Registration Forms ................................. 21 FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 2 General Information ------------------- * FASTSORT will run on any IBM PC or compatible running PC/MS-DOS 2.0 or higher with as little as 100K of free RAM. * FASTSORT will use all available memory to maximize sorting speed and never requires (but may use) more than 6 free DOS file handles. * The main FASTSORT interface is called FSORT and is modeled after the Super Sort(tm) program marketed by Micro Pro International in the late 1970's and early 1980's. While no longer available (to my knowledge) it was at one time the ONE AND ONLY SORT, as many of you may recall. Some degree of compatibility with Super Sort has been built into this product, but full compatibility was never a goal. * Trade Marks - IBM-PC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. - MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc. - dBASE III is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate. - Super Sort is a registered trademark of Micro Pro International - FASTSORT is a trademark of DC Software Features and Overview --------------------- * Sort up to 32 input files into a single output file. Files can have fixed or variable length records, carriage return delimited records, or even be relative (COBOL) files. Special files like .DBF (dBASE) can be easily sorted. * Up to 32 sort fields may be specified. Sort fields ASCENDING or DESCENDING, use special collating sequences like EBCDIC, UPPER-CASE, LEXICAL, or create your own. Sort normal text, binary fields, BCD, fixed point, floating point (single or double precision), LO-HI and many more. * Up to 32 SELECT/EXCLUDE commands using all field types. * Up to 64 WRITE fields including PADing. * Specify ranges of records to be included from each input file. * Convert among file types, cr-delimited to fixed length, DBASE III to relative, etc. * Generate special files containing sorted KEYS, record numbers, selected fields or even byte offsets into the original file. Create index files that can be binary-searched for quick access into BIG data bases. * Put commands in a text file, to be executed at any time. * Easy to use EZSORT interface generates command files interactively. * There's much more to FASTSORT than sorting. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 3 Notation -------- UPPER-CASE Upper case KEYWORDs should be typed as shown. You can abbreviate keywords by in most cases to the first two letters except as noted in the documentation. lower-case This is information that must be supplied by the user. Filenames, record sizes, etc. [ ] The text enclosed in brackets is optional. x|y|z Alternatives to choose from. [x|y|z] would indicate that you MAY choose one, but you don't have too. [, ...] The previous parameter may be repeated more than once. [=|+] Some commands may be issued several times. An "=" sign will reset the values and start over again, a "+" sign will add the new values to the ones previously entered. * An asterisk preceding a command in the reference indicates that the command is REQUIRED. & You may use an AMPERSAND at the end of a line to indicate that the command continues on the next line. You may use up to 255 characters for each command. constants A constant is a number (sequence of digits) or a string (enclosed in single or double quotes). You may add the qualifier H after a string to indicate that it is a HEX string (i.e. characters 0-9 and A-F only), which is then stored internally in binary (two digits to a byte). Running FASTSORT ---------------- FASTSORT can receive instructions as command line arguments, from one or more command files and through interactive user input. To invoke FASTSORT type: FSORT <Enter> or FSORT [CF=commandfile] <Enter> or FSORT [command;command;command..] <Enter> If no GO command is encountered (either in the command file or in the arguments), FASTSORT will automatically go into interactive mode. Or, you can use the new EZSORT interface, and let it create your command files for you! FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 4 Quick Reference Card -------------------- CANCEL CFILE [=] filespec COLLATING-SEQUENCE [=|+] new-sequence [, ...] FOOTER [=] 'left string/center string/right string' * GO | BYE HEADER [=] header-size [RETAIN] * INPUT-ATTRIBUTES [=] max-record-size[,] file-type - FIXED, RELATIVE, VARIABLE, CR-DELIMITED, DBASEIII * KEY [=|+] start-col, end-col, [key-order], [key-type] ... - ASCENDING, DESCENDING - UPPER-CASE, LEXICAL-ORDER, EBCDIC, ALTSEQ, NUMERIC-ASCII, LO-HI PACKED-BCD, FLOATING-POINT, MSBIN-FLOAT, INTEGER, TWOS-COMPLEMENT, ZERO-DELIMITED, PASCAL-STRING, COMPUTATIONAL, COMPUTATIONAL-3, RIGHT-JUSTIFY, MASK-PARITY-BIT. LIST-COMMANDS * OUTPUT-FILE [=] filespec [out-rec-size] [file-type] [out-data-type] - FIXED, RELATIVE, VARIABLE, CR-DELIMITED, DBASEIII - K-OUTPUT, L-OUTPUT, O-OUTPUT, R-OUTPUT, R2-OUTPUT, P-OUTPUT, KL-OUTPUT, KO-OUTPUT, KR-OUTPUT, KR2-OUTPUT, KP-OUTPUT. PAGE-SIZE [=] line-count * READ-FILES [=|+] filespec[(from-record, to-record)] [, filespec...] RETURN-TO-CONSOLE PRINT-LEVEL [=] print-level [SELECT|EXCLUDE] [=|+] expression [AND|OR expression] * SORT-FILES [=|+] filespec[(from-record, to-record)] [, filespec...] STABLE [OFF|ON] TITLE [=|+] 'left string/center string/right string' UNIQUE [OFF|ON] WRITE-FILE [=|+] [FIELD start-col, end-col | PAD [length] [char]] FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 5 Full Command Reference ---------------------- BYE - Exit FASTSORT. Don't process pending commands. CANCEL -- Clear all commands. (Does not clear COLLATING-SEQUENCE). CFILE [=] filespec -- Read commands from command file. COLLATING-SEQUENCE [=|+] char [- char] [= pos [+|-]], ... -- Sets character collating sequence. For any character or range of characters, you specify an order relative to the other chars. Example: Sort numerics first in reverse order, then lower case alpha in ascending order, then upper case in no specific order (weird, but it makes a point. All other chars are sorder normally. COL = '9'-'0', 'a'-'z', 'A'-'Z'=37 Example: Sort everything in reverse: COL = 255-0 or COL = 0-255=255- FOOTER [=] 'left string/center string/right string' - A single line of text at the end of each page. [WRITE-FILE only]. The left, center and right strings will be justified (with a maximum width of 255 characters on a line. You may also include %ppp.. to indicate a page number (the number of Ps (+1 for the %) gives the size of the field), and %m (month 01-12), %mm (month Jan,Feb..), %y (year 01-99), and %d (day 01-31). * GO - Process currently defined commands. See RETURN-TO-CONSOLE. HEADER [=] header-size [RETAIN] - Indicates that the input file has a header with non-record information of 'header-size' bytes. The RETAIN option indicates that the header should be copied to the output file. Only the header for the first input file will be copied into the output file. DBASE headers will be handled automatically if the input type is DBASEIII. * INPUT-ATTRIBUTES [=] max-recsize[,] file-type - Input files will have records not exceeding 'max-recsize' bytes. The maximum size is 64K. Also, indicates the 'file-type' which may be FIXED, RELATIVE, VARIABLE, CR-DELIMITED or DBASEIII. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 6 Full Command Reference (continued) ---------------------------------- * KEY [=|+] start-col, end-col [ASC|DESC] [key-type [qualif]], ... Up to 32 keys. The key-type is one of the following: - no key-type ASCII collating sequence. - UPPER-CASE Ignore upper/lower diff. - LEXICAL-ORDER AaBbCcDd.. - EBCDIC EBCDIC collating sequence. - ALTSEQ Use user's COLLATING-SEQUENCE - NUMERIC-ASCII Free format ASCII number. - PACKED-BCD Binary Coded Decimal. - FLOATING-POINT IEEE format floating point. - MSBIN-FLOAT MS format floating point. - LO-HI Compare bytes in reverse. - TWOS-COMPLEMENT HI-LO, multi-byte, integer. - INTEGER Same as LO-HI + TWOS-COMPLEMENT - ZERO-DELIMITED C-type string. - PASCAL-STRING Length in first byte. - COMPUTATIONAL-3 COBOL Name for PACKED-BCD (abbrev COMP-3) - COMPUTATIONAL COBOL Name for TWOS-COMPLEMENT - MASK-PARITY-BIT Mask bit seven of every byte. - RIGHT-JUSTIFY Right justify a string. LIST-COMMANDS List currently active commands. * OUTPUT-FILE [=] filespec [out-recsize] [file-type] [out-datatype] Gives the name to be used for the output file. You may specify an 'out_recsize' or let the program figure it out. The 'file-type' will be the same as the input files, unless specifically changed. You may also request one of the alternative 'out-datatype' features. See "Output File Options" for a detailed explanation of each: K-OUTPUT, R-OUTPUT, R2-OUTPUT, L-OUTPUT, O-OUTPUT, P-OUTPUT, KR-OUTPUT, KR2-OUTPUT, KL-OUTPUT, KO-OUTPUT and KP-OUTPUT. PAGE-SIZE [=] line-count Number of lines per page [WRITE-FILE only]. RETURN-TO-CONSOLE Accept further commands after executing the GO command. Default is to finish execution and return to the DOS prompt. * READ-FILES [=|+] filespec[(from-record, to-record)] [, filespec...] Specify up to 32 files to be read (not sorted) and processed. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 7 Full Command Reference (continued) ---------------------------------- PRINT-LEVEL [=] print-level Regulate number of messages to be displayed. 0 means no messages. 5 means all possible messages. The default is 2. SELECT|EXCLUDE [=|+] compare [[AND|OR] compare ...] Select or reject records based on logical criteria. If you code multiple SELECT or EXCLUDE records, ALL select statements MUST pass the test (evaluate to TRUE) and ALL exclude statements MUST fail the test (evaluate to FALSE) for the record to be included. compare : field [ < | > | <= | <> | >= | = ] data or : field [ BT | NB ] data, data field : FIELD s-col, e-col [key-type] data : FIELD s-col, e-col | constant-value Notes: BT means BETWEEN and NB means NOT-BETWEEN. * SORT-FILES [=|+] filespec[(from-record, to-record)] [, filespec...] Specify up to 32 files to be read and sorted according to the KEY(s) specified. Record numbers start with 1, not 0. No wildcards. STABLE [ON|OFF] Maintain records in original order when keys are equal. TITLE [=|+] 'string' Up to 3 titles may be specified. [WRITE-FILE only]. See specs for FOOTER, for syntax on %p, %m, %d, %y and %mm. UNIQUE [ON|OFF] Drop identical keys. Retain only one of each. WRITE-FILE [=|+] data, data, .. Build an output record based on specific fields copied from the input records. Add PADding at will. For padding, default length is 1 char, default pad char is a space. See also TITLE, FOOTER and PAGE-SIZE. data : FIELD s-col, e-col | PAD [[length] char] FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 8 Files and Records ----------------- While FASTSORT can handle files with over 4.2 billion bytes, and can handle the same number of records, an artificial limit has been placed on the number of records that can be sorted at one time. The limit was placed in order to speed up the Sort/Merge process. The actual limit depends on the size of the composite KEY sort and can be computed as follows: Max Records = floor(4096/(key_size+5)) * 120000 The following table might give you a better idea of this limitation: Key Size Max Records 1 byte 81,840,000 4 bytes 54,613,342 40 bytes 10,922,667 128 bytes 3,840,000 1040 bytes 480,000 2048 bytes 240,000 If you find this limits unacceptable, please write us a letter explaining your requirements. A custom version of this program can be easily made, to handle more records or larger keys. FASTSORT can handle files containing many different types of records: - In a FIXED record length file, all the records have the same number of characters. The 'max-record-length' parameter of INPUT-ATTRIBUTES is the actual record length. - A CR-DELIMITED file contains lines of text that are terminated by a carriage-return, a line-feed or both. The 'max-record-length' should be the maximum number of characters in a record including the line delimiters (cr and/or lf). Thus, this document contains lines with no more than 80 characters, and the 'max-record-length' is 82. Note that lines with no characters (not even spaces) will not be copied to the output file by this program. - VARIABLE length records are files that have a 2 byte binary number in front of each record specifying the number of characters in that particular record. Again, the 'max-record-length' must be 2 higher than the longest line to include the binary number in the record. Also, when specifying the keys, the first data column in the record is column 3 not 1. If you want to sort by line length, specify a 2 column INTEGER field on column 1. - A special kind of FIXED record length file is a RELATIVE file. This file contains fixed length records, but the first six bytes of the file contain the 'record-length' and the 'maximum-record-number' in the file. A RELATIVE file can hold a maximum of 64K records, and any record that consists entirely of binary zeroes is considered to be empty and is not copied to the output file. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 9 Files and Records (continued) ----------------------------- FASTSORT can handle records up to 64K bytes long. This maximum length includes the special delimiters in a CR-DELIMITED file and the two byte record length in variable length files There are many special types of files that contain fixed length records but have a header in front of them. If you know the size of this header, FASTSORT will correctly handle the file. All DBASE III .DBF files contain a header with information about the fields in the file. The size of the header can be computed as follows: header-size = (number-of-fields + 1) * 32 + 1. The length of the records is reported by DBASE III by the command DISPLAY STRUCTURE. Each record has 1 additional byte up front. This byte will be blank for valid records and a '*' for deleted records. You can use the SELECT/EXCLUDE feature to drop deleted record from processing. The DBASE-III file type will take care of calculating the header for you, but example 1 does it the hard way just to show you how to handle headers. WARNING: The first record on a file is always record 1 not record 0. WARNING: The first column on a record is always column 1 not column 0. Super-Sort (tm) Compatibility ----------------------------- The command interface to FASTSORT is compatible with the command interface to Super Sort version 1.6 of MicroPro International. This product has many features not found in Super Sort, and does not implement some of the more obsolete features in Super Sort. This product is not intended to be 100% compatible with Super Sort. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 10 Fields ------ You specify the location of a field on a record by providing the starting and ending columns on the record. By default, fields are assumed to contain ASCII information and are sorted in ASCII code order (roughly 0,1,2..9,A,B,C,..Z,a,b,c,..z). You may also specify a field TYPE as any of the following: - UPPER-CASE Makes no distinction between upper and lower case letters. - LEXICAL-ORDER This is the order that most dictionaries use. Lower case letters will follow the equivalent upper case letter. In general, the sort order is 0,1,...9,A,a,B,b,C,c...Z,z - EBCDIC A field that contains ASCII text will be sorted in EBCDIC order. This order is roughly A,B,C,...Z,a,b,c,...z,0,1,...9. Please examine the COLLATING SEQUENCE TABLE in the appendix. - ALTSEQ The user may specify a special COLLATING-SEQUENCE to be used for this field. See syntax for COLLATING-SEQUENCE command for more. - NUMERIC-ASCII The field contains an ASCII representation of a number. This field will be sorted according to it's NUMERIC value. Up to 14 significant digits are used. Note that NUMERIC-ASCII is only for numbers stored as TEXT, other field types are available for binary numbers. - LO-HI The bytes in this field are stored in reverse order. For example, a field containing the value "abcdef" would be stored as "fedcba". This is normally the way binary integers are stored in IBM-PC and compatible microcomputers. - PACKED-BCD or COMPUTATIONAL-3 This is a binary representation of a number. Each byte can hold two decimal digits. The right-most byte may contain a sign in the lower half of it. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 11 Fields (continued) ------------------ - FLOATING-POINT This field contains a 4 or 8 byte number in MicroSoft floating point format. - TWOS-COMPLEMENT or COMPUTATIONAL This is a binary representation of a fixed point number. Please note that the field is assumed to be in HI-LO order. On IBM-PC and other microcomputers using the Intel 8086 family of microprocessors, binary integers are stored in LO-HI (reverse) order. You may specify both TWOS-COMPLEMENT and LO-HI or just use the INTEGER type below. - INTEGER This field contains a binary number, in 2's complement format with the bytes in reverse order (LO-HI). It is the equivalent of specifying TWOS-COMPLEMENT and LO-HI for the same field. This field is normally 2 or 4 bytes long, but no restrictions are placed by the program. - ZERO-DELIMITED This field contains a TEXT string that may not be as long as the field. The string is terminated by a binary ZERO. Information found after the binary zero is ignored. This is the format normally used for strings in the C programming language. - PASCAL-STRING This field contains a TEXT string whose length is specified by the first byte of the same. No attempt is made to verify that the length fits the field. This format is used in the Pascal programming language. - RIGHT-JUSTIFY This option applies only to PASCAL-STRINGs and ZERO-DELIMITED strings. The string will be padded to the field length with BLANKs before any two fields are compared. - MASK-PARITY-BIT Bit seven of each byte in this field will be turned off (set to 0). FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 12 Output File Options ------------------- Normally, the output file contains the rearranged input records. This is referred to as FULL RECORD OUTPUT. In addition, there are 4 special types of output = keys, record numbers, segment pointers, and byte offsets that can be combined to create 11 types of files useful for many different purposes. - K-OUTPUT The output file will contain the sorted keys only. Add an output type of CR-DELIMITED to be able to print and/or edit the output file. You may find this file useful as an index file that can be binary searched. Please note that the KEYS in this file have been transformed according to the key-type specifications and may not be in a usable format. For example, a DESCENDING specification will have XOR (exclusive or) the key with hex 'FF', an UPPER-CASE key will have all the characters in upper case and a NUMERIC-ASCII key will be stored in a 9 byte packed BCD floating point format. For more information on the transformation process please see appendix E "Key Transformations". - L-OUTPUT The output file will contain only the record numbers, (remember that the first record is 1 not 0), arranged according to the keys you specified. This type of file is useful as a fast, compact index into a big data file. Your program may use this file to access the data file in many different sorted orders without having to have many copies of the file on the disk. FIXED, VARIABLE and RELATIVE files will contain 4 byte records each holding a single record number in TWOS-COMPLEMENT, LO-HI format. For multi-file input, a single byte file number is prefixed to the record making it a 5 byte record. For CR-DELIMITED files, the record numbers will be stored as ASCII text using 12 characters (+2 for the carriage return and the line feed). This file can be accessed as fixed length (14 bytes) if you want to. The record numbers are padded with "0" (Ex: "0000034653"). For multi- file input, a 3 digit file number is prefixed (Ex: "002,0000034653") and a comma (,) separates the two numbers. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 13 Output File Options (continued) ------------------------------- - O-OUTPUT The output file will contain byte offsets into the file (the first byte in the file being byte 0). This is very useful to create an index into a VARIABLE or CR-DELIMITED file. Your program can perform seeks to the exact position where the record you want starts. FIXED, VARIABLE and RELATIVE files will contain 4 byte records each holding an offset in TWOS-COMPLEMENT, LO-HI format. For multi-file input, a single byte file number is prefixed to the record making it a 5 byte record. For CR-DELIMITED files, the offsets will be stored as ASCII text using using 12 characters (+2 for the carriage return and the line feed). This file can be accessed as fixed length (14 bytes) if you want to. - R-OUTPUT (Super Sort Compatible) This is a 2 byte version of L-OUTPUT with the added quirk of a single byte binary zero in front of it. This is a Super Sort compatible file and is not expected to be useful to non-Super Sort fans. Binary records will be 3 bytes long (4 for multi-file input). Example: [0001A7] or [00030180] CR-DELIMITED records have 6 character record numbers. If you don't plan to have more than 999999 records, this format might be preferable to L-OUTPUT (only for CR-DELIMITED output). - R2-OUTPUT (Super Sort Compatible) This is the same as above, but uses a 4 byte integer thus allowing more than 4 billion records (2^32 - 1 to be exact). Records contain the Super Sort specified binary zero. The CR-DELIMITED version of R2-OUTPUT is exactly equivalent to the CR-DELIMITED version of L-OUTPUT. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 14 Output File Options (continued) ------------------------------- - P-OUTPUT (Super Sort Compatible) The input file(s) are divided into blocks of 128 bytes each. A pair of numbers (block,offset) are calculated for each record. The first block is block number 1 and the first byte in each block is byte 1. For FIXED, VARIABLE and RELATIVE output, the numbers will be stored in TWOS-COMPLEMENT, LO-HI format, each using 2 bytes. A file number will be prefixed for multi-file input. For CR-DELIMITED output, each number is stored in 6 character, zero- filled format, with a 3 character file number for multi-file input. Example "003423,000028" or "004,004320,000121". - KL-, KO-, KR-, KR2- and KP-OUTPUT. To make the previous formats even more useful, an extension of the K-OUTPUT option allows you to get the record number, byte offset or whatever is right after the KEY in a combined Kx-OUTPUT option. This is perhaps the most useful output option because it allows you to create sorted KEY files that can be binary searched to locate a particular key and then allows you to access the original data file to retrieve the full record. A powerful relational data base can be easily written using the Kx-OUTPUT options as the heart of it's indexing capabilities. Please see the appendix "Examples and Tips" for additional information. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 15 Key Transformations ------------------- When FASTSORT reads the input records, it creates a single KEY that can be easily sorted. This key contains the information found on each of the individual fields specified in one or more KEY commands. Each field is individually transformed according to the following rules. When using the K-OUTPUT or Kx-OUTPUT options, certain key attributes will totally alter the key information and special approaches may be needed if you have to have an unmodified key in your output file. Please see example number 3 for an easy way to accomplish this task. - DESCENDING The field is one's complemented after all necessary transformations have taken place. - UPPER-CASE All lower case characters in the field are translated to upper case. - LEXICAL-ORDER, EBCDIC and ALTSEQ Every character on this field is transformed into a sequence code from 0 through 255. This will most likely make the field totally unreadable. In the case of EBCDIC, the resultant field will be the actual EBCDIC character equivalent to the original ASCII character. - NUMERIC-ASCII The number will be translated to an internal 9 byte sortable floating point representation. The number is in excess 513, with 14 decimal digits of precision. + Bit 7 of Byte 0 is ON (1). + Bits 6 through 0 and byte 1 contain the excess 513 exponent. + Bytes 2-6 contain the significant digits, 4 bits each. (Zero Padded) + The whole field is one's complemented if the number is negative. - LO-HI The bytes in this field are stored in reverse order. - PACKED-BCD or COMPUTATIONAL-3 A hex 'FF' byte is prefixed to the field. If signed, the field is shifted right 4 bits to delete the sign. If the sign was negative the whole field is one's complemented (including the added byte). FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 16 Key Transformations (continued) ------------------------------- - FLOATING-POINT The bytes in the field are reversed. If byte 0 is 0, all bytes are set to 0 otherwise: + set bit 7 of byte 1 to bit 0 of byte 0. + shift byte 0 right one bit position. + set bit 7 of byte 0 to 1. + if bit 7 of byte 0 was 1 before the first step (negative number), one's complement all bytes. - TWOS-COMPLEMENT or COMPUTATIONAL Complement bit 7 of byte 0. - INTEGER Reverse the order of the bytes. Complement bit 7 of byte 0. - ZERO-DELIMITED Trailing Spaces are added to the field. - PASCAL-STRING Drop the length field. Add trailing spaces to the field. - RIGHT-JUSTIFY For PASCAL-STRING and ZERO-DELIMITED fields, leading spaces will be added instead of trailing ones. - MASK-PARITY-BIT Bit seven of each byte in this field will be turned off (set to 0). FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 17 Examples and Tips ----------------- The following examples are meant to show the wide variety of needs that can be met by FASTSORT. Your feed back on this and any other section of this manual will be appreciated. Example 1. You need to create a company Phone List to post on the office's bulletin board. The information can be found in the DBASE III employee management system, but you need to edit the information with your word processor. You find that the employee file has 800 characters per record, the phone number is stored in columns 345 through 355 and the employee's name is in columns 546 through 582. There are 420 fields in the employee file. INPUT = 800, DBASE SORT = EMPLOYEE.DBF OUTPUT = PHONE.LST K-OUTPUT CR-DEL /* CR to print the list EXCLUDE = FIELD 1, 1 EQ '*' /* Drop empty records KEY = 546, 582 ASC /* The name first KEY + 345, 355 ASC /* The phone number last GO /* Sort it Example 2. You need a quick list of all your clients, but the only place to get it from is from the SHIPPING records. The shipping file contains over 40 thousand records, as most clients place orders several times a day. INPUT 520 FIXED SORT SHIPPING.LOG OUTPUT CLIENTS.LST K-OUTPUT CR-DELIMITED UNIQUE /* No repeat keys. KEY 32, 51 UPPER-CASE ASC /* Translate names to UPCASE GO Example 3. You want the above list of clients, but you MUST have it in descending order. Remember that the DESCENDING attribute transforms the key data. INPUT 520 FIXED SORT SHIPPING.LOG OUTPUT CLIENTS.LST K-OUTPUT UNIQUE /* No repeat keys. KEY 32, 51 UPPER-CASE ASC RETURN-TO-CONSOLE /* Sort, but I'm not finished yet. GO CANCEL /* Erase all of the above. INPUT 20 FIXED /* A 20 character record SORT CLIENTS.LST /* Read output from previous sort OUTPUT CLIENTS.LST 22 CR-DELIMITED /* Create a CR-DEL file KEY 1 20 DESC GO ; BYE /* Sort and Good Bye */ FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 18 Examples and Tips (continued) ----------------------------- Example 4. You need to sort and print a file in 3 different orders. INPUT 80 CR-DEL SORT NAMES.LST OUTPUT PRN /* Write to the printer.. full records RETURN-TO-CONSOLE KEY = 1, 20 /* Sorted by NAME GO KEY = 25, 38 /* Sorted by PHONE GO KEY = 40, 40, 1, 20 /* By SEX then by NAME GO BYE /* Needed due to RETURN-TO-CONSOLE Example 5. You need to print a directory of employees, but nicer than example #1. INPUT = 171, DBASE SORT = EMPLOYEE.DBF OUTPUT = PHONE.LST CR-DEL 80 EXCLUDE = FIELD 1, 1 EQ '*' KEY = 6, 35 ASC TITLE = 'Name Address Phone//%mm %d, 19%y' TITLE + '-------------------- -------------------- --------------' WRITE = F 6, 25 WRITE + PAD, FIELD 36, 55, PAD WRITE + PAD '(', FIELD 96, 98, PAD ')' WRITE + PAD, FIELD 99, 101 WRITE + PAD '-', FIELD 102, 105 FOOTER = '/- %p -/' GO FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 19 What the future holds --------------------- We are currently working on some enhancements that will truly make this product an indispensable tool. Suggestions are welcomed. Any suggestion that is adopted and implemented will be acknowledged on the documentation for the newer releases. A free update will also be sent to the first person to suggest that particular enhancement. Expanded Reporting Capabilities ------------------------------- In report writing, the ability to specify break levels in the sort key and to keep totals: BREAK [=|+] key number, key number.. TOTAL [=|+] FIELD s-col, e-col [numeric-field-type] Finally, adding a 'input-data-type' field to the WRITE-FILE command will allow you to create reports from binary files. (the field would be trans- formed into an ASCII field). Extended and/or Expanded Memory Support --------------------------------------- We will be looking to support extended and/or expanded memory for super- fast sorting of BIG files. It really depends on what our users tell us about their sorting needs. FASTSORT - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Page 20 The EZSORT interface -------------------- Recognizing that sometimes you need to do a one-time SORT, or that you may not have the time to memorize the command syntax for FASTSORT, we have made the EZSORT interface for easy, fast, no-frills sorting. This program will display a screen where you may type the input and output file names, types, lengths, as well as the keys, titles and other options. Note that if you enter a TITLE or a FOOTER, the KEY fields will be copied into WRITE-FILE commands, separated by spaces. This feature allows you to create simple reports from the EZSORT interface without having to enter the same information twice. You can always edit the resulting command file to modify the actual report generated. Extensive context sensitive help will help new users get up and running in a jiffy. The interface can generate command files (xx.CF) or can call the FSORT.EXE program directly. The CF files generated can be edited by the user to do minor adjustments, without having to remember the exact syntax of the standard commands. To use the interface, run EZSORT from the dos prompt: C> EZSORT<enter> Fill in the blanks and press: F1 - For help on the specific field the cursor is on. F2 - To create a command file (EZSORT.CF) and execute the FSORT program immediately. After the sort is finished, control will return to DOS, not EZSORT. F6 - To create a command file with a specific name. The EZSORT interface will ask you for the name after you press F6. F10- To exit the EZSORT program. Note that the information you have typed will not be retained. If you would like to see the EZSORT interface extended, please write us a letter telling us about it. FastSort - Version 1.60 - General Purpose File Sorting and Handling Utility Mail registration form to: DC Software, 6705 Laramie Dr., Plano TX 75023 ------------------------- Your Mailing Address -------------------- Name : ______________________________________________ Title : ______________________________________________ (optional) Street: ______________________________________________ City : _______________________ State __ Zip _____ Type of Registration -------------------- [ ] Mailing List Only. $10 fee. [ ] Full Registration. $25 fee. [ ] Multiple Copies. $25 fee (1st copy). $10 per additional copy. [ ] Unlimited Copies (Per Site). $100 fee. [ ] Change of Address only. No fee. 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