COBOL Sequential File Being Read in Notpad 1

[scottv123]

I am unable to find an answer to this on them web, and hope that some here can help. I am using Microfocus Cobol running on AIX 4.3.3. I am trying to produce a record sequential file that is fixed width (each record is PIC x(202), and email this data file to an end-user. The thing is that when the user opens this file in windows notepad, there is a "box" character in the first position of the file, and the same character in the last position. I am assuming that these are carriage returns, but need to know how to not have them in the output file while retaining the file format. Thanks

 

[k5tm]

For an accurate response, we need to see the SELECT sentence from the FILE-CONTROL paragraph. Can you provide that, please?

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[scottv123]

SELECT PRINT-X ASSIGN TO "/data13/rebates/out"
ORGANIZATION IS record sequential
FILE STATUS IS DISK-ERR.


FD PRINT-X RECORD CONTAINS 202 CHARACTERS.
01 P-1 PIC X(202).

I do a simple WRITE P-1, to add the data to the file.

 

[k5tm]

I would first try changing to

ORGANIZATION LINE SEQUENTIAL

because I think that will work for Notepad.

Are all 202 characters in the normal printable range of x20-x7e?

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[scottv123]

Yes, all of the characters are alpha-numeric

 

[scottv123]

I have also tried the line sequential in the select statement, but I still get those "box" characters.

 

[k5tm]

Ok, then here is my best guess (since I am not a Micro Focus expert).

What is most likely happening is that the records are being delimited with a new line character, the traditional character for delimiting text records on Unix. The DOS/Windows standard, however is the two-character sequence carriage return, line feed.

If this is the case, try viewing the attachment with WordPad, which is a little more accepting of new line than Notepad.

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[k5tm]

Also, on the Windows side, what are the actual character codes in those positions? If you do not have an editor capable of displaying hex, then, from a command line prompt, use debug filename and type d at the first debug prompt to view the first 128 bytes of the file.

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[scottv123]

Actually the .txt extension changed to .wri did it. Thanks for all of your help and the quick reply!