Indicates the type of records in a file. It takes the following form: RECORDTYPE = typ typ Is a character expression with one of the following values: 'FIXED' All records are one size. Short records are padded with blanks (formatted files) or zeros (unformatted files). 'VARIABLE' Records can vary in length. 'SEGMENTED' A record consists of one or more variable length records which may exist in different physical blocks. Valid only for unformatted, sequential files with sequential access. 'STREAM' Data is not grouped into records and contains no control information. 'STREAM_CR' Variable-length records whose length is indicated by carriage-returns embedded in the data. 'STREAM_LF' Variable-length records whose length is indicated by line-feeds (new lines) embedded in the data. When you open a file, default record types are as follows: +-------------------------------------+---------------------+ | File Type | Default Record Type | +-------------------------------------+---------------------+ | Relative or indexed files | 'FIXED' | | Direct access sequential files | 'FIXED' | | Formatted sequential access files | 'VARIABLE' | | Unformatted sequential access files | 'SEGMENTED' | +-------------------------------------+---------------------+ A segmented record is a logical record consisting of one or more variable-length records (segments). The logical record can span several physical records. Only unformatted sequential-access files with sequential organization can have segmented records; 'SEGMENTED' must not be specified for any other file type. Files containing segmented records can be accessed only by unformatted sequential data transfer statements. You cannot use an unformatted READ statement to access such a file, unless you specify RECORDTYPE='SEGMENTED' in the OPEN statement. Normally, if you do not use the RECORDTYPE specifier when you are accessing an existing file, the record type of the file is used. However, if the file is an unformatted sequential-access file with sequential organization and variable-length records, the default record type is 'SEGMENTED'. If you use the RECORDTYPE specifier when you are accessing an existing file, the type that you specify must match the type of the existing file. If an output statement does not specify a full record for a file containing fixed-length records, the following occurs: o In formatted files, the record is filled with blanks o In unformatted files, the record is filled with zeros