HP 3000 Manual page 47

Record |------|---|------|
A 1 - position control field (A) in input record is moved to first control field position in work record.
* Change each A to a $.
|---|-------|
| A | Data |
|---|-------|
Original work record
There are two types of conditional forces:
• Conditional force on Normal or Opposite control field.
• Stand-alone conditional force.
Conditional force on Normal or Opposite Control Field
This allows you to specify a 1-character normal or opposite control field and have it converted to an
alternate value on the work record, depending on its value on the input record. To use this option, you
must first specify the normal or opposite control field and immediately follow it by the conditional force
line or lines. Each conditional force line must show the same input field location in columns 13-16 and
must include a continuation character in column 19 to indicate it is a continuation of the specification of
the normal or opposite control field. This force option does not increase the length of your work record. It
only overlays an already defined position.
Stand-Alone Conditional Force
If your conditional force lines are not a continuation of the specifications of a normal or opposite control
field (see discussion above), XSORT will place a hex FF (if the sort is ascending) or a hex 00 (if the sort is
descending) in the next available work record position. It will use that position as if it were a normal or
opposite control field. Processing of the conditional force specifications then continues, based on that new
position. Each conditional force line in a stand-alone group must show the same input field location in
columns 13-16, even though that input field is never moved into the work record. (It is only used to
determine what character, if any, is to overlay the hex FF or 00 in the work record.)
All lines except the first must include a continuation character in column 19. A stand-alone force group
increases the length of your work record by 1.
Force-All
Force-all is a different type of conditional force. It works only when the control field of the input record
does not contain a particular entry or entries. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as a "catch-all"
operation.
A force-all line always follows a series of conditional force lines. The combined conditional and force-all
abilities allow you to give XSORT instructions such as the following:
• If the control field is an A, place a 5 in the work record.
• If the control field is a J, place a 4 in the work record.
• If the control field contains neither an A nor a J, place a $ in the work record.
Here you are using two stand-alone conditional forces and following them with a force-all.
If the control field were in position 12 of the input records, here is how you would enter Field Description
specifications for the example just described:
Record |---|------|
|---|-------|
| $ | Data |
|---|-------|
Changed work record
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