Format specifications


Format specifications determine how to format, display, and group fields. You can use Format specifications to structure field data and to define the order in which fields are displayed. For more information about using a Format specification to structure data, see Grouping-related-fields-with-FFlist-and-GFlist.

The following table describes Format specifications.

FAcct

FAcct(COUNT|NOCOUNT)

Formats accounting information (often called job accounting) as specified on a JCL JOB or EXEC statement and written in SMF records (for example, SMF 30).

The associated Get specification returns the address of the first byte, the count of subfields, and a length at least equal to the total length of the accounting information.

The following table describes the operands:

Operand

Description

COUNT

Data begins with a 1-byte subfield count (for example, SMF 35 TLGNBRAC)

NOCOUNT

Subfield count is omitted (for example, SMF30ACT)

FAre

FAre()

Formats an ACF2 alter request entry. FAre has no operands.

FBINPrec

FBINPrec(intType, precision)

(SPE2104) Prints binary data with the specified decimal precision

The following table describes the operands:

Operand

Description

IntType

One of the integer types from the Integer types table

precision

Number of digits to the right of the decimal point

Enter a number from 1 to 9.

FBits

FBits(bitTableName intType [additionalErgo [mask [MSB]]])

Formats an integer as a series of bit flags

A bits definition statement assigns a name to each bit, and then FBits formats the integer as, tag: {name, name}, for each 1-bit value. The bits are processed from least significant to most significant unless MSB is specified.

Make sure that BITs specifies a table as large as the number of bits in the integer. For more information, see BITs-and-REBITs-statements.

If a bit is on (and not masked off) and there is no corresponding bit definition in the BITs table, then the bit is formatted as Bit n, where n is a bit number in the range 1–63. For purposes of FBits, bits are numbered from 1, starting with the least significant bit: Bit 1 corresponds to X'01', Bit 2 to X'02', Bit 8 to X'80', Bit 9 to X'100', and so on.

The following table describes the operands:

Operand

Description

bitTableName

Label of a previously defined BITs statement

By convention, bit definition tables have names that begin with B_. The name is not case-sensitive.

intType

Any of the integer types from the Integer types table except UCharUChar and UNiblUNibl

additionalErgo

Additional ERGOnomic value (in addition to zero) that is suppressed if OPTIONS FORMAT(ERGO) is specified

For more information, see the FORMat(format) parameter of the OPTIONS statement.

Specify a numeric operand no larger than the specified integer type.

This operand is required if you specify the mask or MSB operand, but you can enter an additionalErgo value of 0

mask

Mask to be logically joined with AND to the data in the record before the comparison

Example

A mask of X’0007’ causes all but the low-order 3 bits of the integer to be ignored for formatting purposes.

This operand is required if you specify the MSB operand, but you can enter a mask value of X'FF', X'FFFF' (all bits on).

If you omit the operand, all bits of the integer are used in the formatting.

MSB

Bits to be processed, starting with the most significant bit

If you omit the operand, bits are processed from least to most significant.

FBool

FBool(intType mask [ALL|ANY])

Formats one or more bits as Boolean character values

If the bits are on, the value is Yes. If the bits are zero, the value is No or omitted.

The character value is specified by the BOOLValues parameter of the OPTIONS statement.

The following table describes the operands:

Operand

Description

intType

Any of the integer types from the Integer types table

mask

Bit or bits to be tested

If you code a mask that specifies more than one bit, then ALL | ANY determines whether all of the bits must be on, or any of the bits can be on, for the FBool to format the true value (typically Yes).

ALL|ANY

Whether all of the bits in the mask, or any of the bits in the mask, must be on in order for FBool to format the true value (typically Yes)

This operand has no meaning if mask specifies only a single bit.

If you omit the operand, it defaults to ALL.

FChar or FCharX

FChar([length][SUB] [TB] [XP]) or FCharX([length] [SUB] [TB] [XP])

Format a character field of a known length

If the field data does not consist entirely of printable characters, FCharX generates leading character data as displayable characters and formats the following non-printable data in hexadecimal. FCharX is higher overhead than FChar, and you should use it only when the field has to be generally formatted as characters, but the possibility of non-printable characters exists. You can specify the length either on FChar()/FCharX() or return by the Get specification. If both are available, then use the shorter value.

The following table describes the operands:

Operand

Description

length

Length of the value

This operand is optional.

SUB

Substitute a period for any non-printable characters in the data

For FCharX, SUB is accepted but is meaningless; if the data contains non-printable characters the field is formatted in hexadecimal.) SUB slightly increases FChar overhead.

TB

Preserve trailing blanks in the data

If you omit the operand, then remove trailing blanks in the data.

XP

Check the field’s value for transparency

Do not specify XP unless the field possibly contains equal signs, backslashes, quotation marks, or embedded (non-trailing) blanks because XP increases the overhead to process the field.

If XP is specified, then certain characters are escaped appropriately if SIEMtype is CEF or SPLUNK. XP is optional; if you omit the operand, do not check the value for transparency.

FCharPfx

FCharPfx(UChar|UHalf|UShort [adjust [length]] [TB] [XP])

Formats a character field whose length is specified by an immediately-preceding prefix encoded as a single byte or a halfword

FCharPfx implements all of the features of FChar. The corresponding Get specification must specify the location of the prefix, that must in turn immediately precede the character string.

Operand

Description

UChar|UHalf|UShort

Format of the length prefix

adjust

Amount to be added to (or, by implication, subtracted from) the encoded length to compute the actual length of the character string itself

For example, it is common for length fields of this sort to include their own length in their value; in that case you would code an adjust value of -1 or -2.

You must code adjust (possibly as 0) if you also specify a maximum length; if you omit the operand, the default value is 0.

length

Specifies the maximum length of the character string

If you omit the operand, the maximum length defaults to the length returned by the Get specification.

TB

Specifies that you should preserve trailing blanks in the data

If you omit the operand, then any trailing blanks in the data are removed.

XP

Specifies that you should check the field’s value for transparency

Do not specify XP unless the field is likely to contain equal signs, backslashes, quotation marks, or embedded (non-trailing) blanks because XP increases the overhead to process the field.

If XP is specified, then certain characters are escaped appropriately if SIEMtype is CEF or SPLUNK. XP is optional; if you omit the operand, the value is not checked for transparency.

FCString

FCString()

Formats a C format character string— a character string terminated by a null (binary zero)

FCString accepts no parameters.

FCompCd

FCompCd()

Formats a completion code field like SMF30SCC

FCompCd accepts no parameters.

FDesc

FDesc(mapLabel intType [mask])

Formats an integer as a corresponding textual description

The descriptions for the various integer values are specified with MAP and REMAP. Integer values with no corresponding MAP text are formatted as hexadecimal.

Operand

Description

mapLabel

Label of a previously-defined MAP statement

The name is not case-sensitive. By convention, map labels begin with M_.

intType

Any of the integer types from the Integer types table except UCharUChar and UNiblUNibl.

mask

Mask to be logically ANDed with the integer before formatting.

Example

A mask of 0x07 would cause all but the low-order three bits of the integer to be ignored for map lookup purposes.

If you omit the operand, all bits of the integer are used to look up a value in the map.

FDump

FDump([length])

Displays a value as a diagnostic character string of quoted characters, integers, hex digits, or both

It is used for diagnostic purposes.

Operand

Description

length

Maximum length of the value

If you omit the operand, the lesser of 999 or the length returned by the Get specification is used.

FFlist

FFlist([maxLength] delimType fieldName fieldName … )

Formats a list of Fields as a group, such as Tag: {Tag: value - Tag: value}

FFlist can be specified with a Get Specification of GNull and a normal Get specification on each subsidiary field, or might be specified with a normal Get Specification and GFlist on each subsidiary field. The latter is typically more appropriate if the aggregate field repeats. See Grouping-related-fields-with-FFlist-and-GFlist.

Operand

Description

maxLength

Maximum length of the entire group of fields in the formatted syslog message

If you omit the operand, the aggregate length of the group is limited only by MAXMSGLEN.

delimType

Format the type of delimiter between fields of the list

Specify None or Inner. If you specify Inner then the delimiters are as specified by third and fourth sub-operands of the OPTIONS DELIM parameter, or as modified by OPTIONS SIEMtype.

fieldName fieldName

List of the names of two or more previously-defined Fields

The FFlistfields might include FFlist fields; in other words, you might nest FFlists.

FFloat

FFloat(floatType [SUPPXFF] [CANON])

Formats a hexadecimal (traditional System 390) floating point number of the type indicated by floatType

Operand

Description

floatType

One of the float types from the Float types table

SUPPXFF

(Optional) If SUPPXFF is coded, then any value of X'FFF…' (binary minus one) is suppressed (not formatted) in accordance with the usage by Db2 of the SQLCA field SQLERRD(4).

(Optional) Forces the FFloat number to display the decimal floating point number with precision 6

The output is not displayed as a scientific notation.

FHex

FHex(length)

Displays a value as a string of hexadecimal digits

It is used primarily for diagnostic purposes, or to format a field for which no better Format Specification exists.

Operand

Description

length

Maximum length of the value, in the range 1–999

FInt

FInt(intType [ALL] [CANON|SCALE])

Formats an integer

Operand

Description

IntType

One of the integer types from the Integer types table

ALL

Forces the integer to format even if the value of the field is zero and OPTIONS FORMAT(ERGO) is in effect

ALL is appropriate for integer fields that are particularly significant when their value is zero.

CANON

Forces the integer to canonical format even if OPTIONS INTFORMAT(SCALED) is in effect

For a description of canonical and scaled integer formats, see INTFormat. CANON is appropriate for integer fields that are codes or similar values rather than quantities.

Forces the integer to scale format even if OPTIONS INTFORMAT(CANON) is in effect.

For a description of canonical and scaled integer formats, see INTFormat. CANON is appropriate for integer fields that are codes or similar values rather than quantities.

FIPAddr

FIPAddr(IPFormat)

Formats an IPv6 address

It can format it as an IPv6 address, or format it as either an IPv4 address if it is an IPv4-mapped address and as 255.255.255.255 if not.

Operand

Description

IPFormat

Specifies the format. Specify either v6 or v6asv4.

FMVZTime

FMVZTime(length)

(SPE2104) Formats a BMC AMI Ops Monitoring zoned timestamp into a UTC time format; YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS.th

Operand

Description

length

8 byte fixed length of the field

This is the number of bytes that will be converted.

FPack

FPack(numberOfDigits [CANON])

Displays a packed decimal value as an integer

The product does not check that the field contains valid packed decimal data.

Operand

Description

numberOfDigits

Number of digits in the range 1–17

Important

The number of digits formatted is always an odd number. If the number of digits specified is even, it is rounded up to the next odd number.

(Optional) Forces the integer to canonical format

For a description of canonical and scaled integer formats, see INTFormat. CANON is appropriate for integer fields that are codes or similar values rather than quantities.

FTime

FTime(timeType)

Formats a time of day or a duration in accordance with the TIME statement

(SPE2104) New time types PDate and PTime added for this parameter. For more information, see Time types table.

Operand

Description

timeType

One of the time types from the Time types table

FUnicode

FUnicode(length)

Unicode characters (CCSID 1200) that must be converted to EBCDIC (CCSID 1047)

Operand

Description

length

Fixed length of the field

This is the number of bytes that will be converted.

FZdur

FZdur(length)

(SPE2104) Formats a BMC AMI Ops Monitoring duration into the time format; HH:MM:SS.th

Operand

Description

length

4-byte fixed length of the field

This is the number of bytes that will be converted.


 

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