Compare (10)
File-AID’s Compare function is a data compare utility that enables you to do the following:
- Compare a data set of any file organization supported by File-AID to any other file organization (VSAM, SEQ, PDS, PDSE, BDAM, IAM, CA Panvalet, and CA Librarian). For Version 2 PDSE, Compare only recognizes the current member (0 generation).
- Compare load libraries including CSECT information.
- Compare COBOL or PL/I source code files intelligently. The selected language determines the coding convention and structure to be used during the compare. Source code is assumed to be 80 positions.
- Compare JCL jobstreams on a keyword basis or a line basis. When JCL is compared on a keyword basis, statements are considered equal as long as the values provided for each keyword are the same. Keyword compare also compares correctly when the statement sequence has been altered. DD statements can occur in any sequence within a step.
- Use selection criteria to indicate the specific records in the OLD and NEW file that are eligible for the compare. For required data set attributes, see Selection criteria dataset.
- Use COMPARE OLD and NEW files that have different layouts in Formatted or Unformatted Compare mode.
- Specify compare criteria to indicate which fields to include/exclude during the compare. You can use a COBOL or PL/I layout in the compare criteria generation process. For required data set attributes, see Compare criteria dataset.
- It is highly recommended that you create your batch compare criteria via the online screens as some parameters may be incompatible with others or may need to be in conjunction with other parameters to function properly. Advanced users can also create the criteria by coding it per the specifications in the File-AID/MVS Batch Reference.
- Automatically synchronize records on key fields. Use the defined key for a keyed file or specify key fields for sorted or non-sorted sequential files. You can use a COBOL or PL/I layout in the key specification process.
- In order to compare the data from the new and old files, you must have a Compare Field specified. Only specifying the SYNC Key field, will only compare the SYNC key field and will not compare the rest of data in the file.
- Specify unique compare criteria for each record type to support multiple record type files.
- Specify a number of records to read-ahead to synchronize non-keyed or non-sorted files containing inserted and deleted records.
- Specify flexible compare reporting options.
- Specify COBOL or PL/I layouts to print a Formatted compare report or specify Hexadecimal, Character, or Mixed format for an unformatted report.
- Automatically associate like or similarly-named fields between files with different layouts.
Compatible Field Types
The following table lists the compatible field (data) type combinations that can be compared to each other. All other combinations are considered invalid
Compare Compatible Field Type Combinations
Field Type | Compatible Field Types | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B | BS | C | D | F | P | PS | BT | Z | ZS | |
B - Unsigned binary | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
BS- Signed binary | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
C - Character | X | |||||||||
D - DBCS (graphic) | X | |||||||||
F - Floating point | X | |||||||||
P - Unsigned Packed | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
PS - Signed packed | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
BT - Bit | X | |||||||||
Z - Unsigned zoned decimal (display numeric, non-edited) | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
ZS - Signed zoned decimal (display numeric, non-edited) | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Unicode (UTF-8 and UTF-16) Considerations
The Compare function accepts layouts including UTF-8, NATIONAL and/or NATIONAL Numeric fields. However, these fields are treated as Character and the Compare Report does not print Unicode data with Unicode Conversion.
This section provides information about the following topics: