Specifies the fields of a record to be directed to the output file. Formats /DATA= field-name /DATA= (IF condition-name THEN "new-contents" ELSE "new-contents")
1 – Qualifier Values
field-name Specifies the name of a field in a record. The field-name must be defined previously in a /FIELD qualifier. condition-name Specifies a condition-name that has been defined previously in a /CONDITION qualifier. new-contents Specifies how the record is to be altered. The new-contents can be a constant or a field-name that has been defined in a /FIELD qualifier.
2 – Full Description
A /DATA qualifier must identify every field in the records you are directing to the output file. Specify the data fields in the order you want them to appear in the output record. By default, the record format for an output file is the same as that for the input file. If you want to eliminate or reorder fields from the output record, you can use the /DATA qualifier, causing only those fields identified by the /DATA qualifier to be directed to the output file. You can conditionally change the contents of a field in the output records by first specifying a condition name and then setting up a test for what meets the condition in a /CONDITION qualifier. You then specify the contents you want in the field in a /DATA qualifier of the form: /DATA=(IF condition-name THEN "new-contents" ELSE "new-contents")
3 – Examples
1./FIELD=(NAME=AGENT,POSITION:1,SIZE:5) /FIELD=(NAME=ZIP,POSITION:6,SIZE:3) /FIELD=(NAME=STYLE,POSITION:10,SIZE:5) /FIELD=(NAME=CONDITION,POSITION:16,SIZE:9) /FIELD=(NAME=PRICE,POSITION:26,SIZE:5) /FIELD=(NAME=TAXES,POSITION:32,SIZE:5) /DATA=PRICE /DATA=" " /DATA=TAXES /DATA=" " /DATA=STYLE /DATA=" " /DATA=ZIP /DATA=" " /DATA=AGENT The /FIELD qualifiers define the fields in the records from an input file that has the following format: AGENT ZIP STYLE CONDITION PRICE TAXES The /DATA qualifiers, which use the field-names defined in the /FIELD qualifiers, reformat the records to create output records of the following format: PRICE TAXES STYLE ZIP AGENT 2./FIELD=(NAME=AGENT,POSITION:20,SIZE:15) /CONDITION=(NAME=AGENCY, TEST=(AGENT EQ "Real-T Trust" OR AGENT EQ "Realty Trust")) /DATA=(IF AGENCY THEN "Realty Trust" ELSE AGENT) In this example, two real estate files are being sorted. One file refers to an agency as Real-T Trust; the other refers to the same agency as Realty Trust. The /CONDITION and /DATA qualifiers instruct Sort to list the AGENT field in the sorted output file as Realty Trust.