If the sort operation is a record or tag sort, the default output record format is the same as the first input file record format. If the sort operation is an address or index sort, the default output record format is fixed record format. If the input files have different record formats, Sort provides an output record size that is large enough to contain the largest record in the input files. When you specify the output record format, you can indicate the maximum record size, in bytes, of the output records. You can specify fixed-length records, variable-length records, or variable with fixed-length control records.