BINARY

Synopsis

HELP:   Read binary data from a file
TYPE:   OBJECT
SYNTAX: BINARY(NET.{},FILE['str'/STREAM/DUMMY...],BLKSIZE=num,RECLENGTH=num,DECODE[=NONE/ARCHIVE/FIODEC/DECRYP/CRYDEC/DECOMP/CMPDEC/ALWAYS],DECRYPT[{}...],FDECODE/COD.{},RLDECO,RECDELIM='bin'/CR-ASCII/LF-ASCII/NL-ASCII/CRLF-ASCII/CR-EBCDIC/LF-EBCDIC/NL-EBCDIC/CRLF-EBCDIC/CR-UTF08/LF-UTF08/NL-UTF08/CRLF-UTF08/CR-UTF16BE/LF-UTF16BE/NL-UTF16BE/CRLF-UTF16BE/CR-UTF16LE/LF-UTF16LE/NL-UTF16LE/CRLF-UTF16LE/CR-UTF32BE/LF-UTF32BE/NL-UTF32BE/CRLF-UTF32BE/CR-UTF32LE/LF-UTF32LE/NL-UTF32LE/CRLF-UTF32LE,SUPPADDING,PRNCONTROL=DETACH/RETAIN/ERASE/REPLACE,RPLFFD[=num],SUBSYSTEM(),FRCBLK,REMOVE,PLATFORM=WIN/UNX/ZOS/USS/VSE/BS2/MAC,OWNER='str',ENVID='str',HASH(),SIGNATURE.{},CHECK,TABLE(),AVSCAN(),NOARCH,PREPROCESS[()...],POSTPROCESS/PSTPRO[()...])

Description

Read binary operates on blocks of binary data. By default, no decompression or any other conversions are performed. These must explicitly be turned on using the respective parameters.

If the 'decode' parameter is set, the data is automatically decrypted and uncompressed. If the encrypted or compressed data is encoded (e.g. Base64), it is decoded before uncompression/decryption. If a 4 byte record length format detected and decoding should be done, then the records are parsed before the next decoding step. If the uncompressed/decrypted data is encoded, it is only decoded if 'decode' is set to 'CMPDEC' or 'ALWAYS'. By setting 'decode' to one of the available values, you have further control over the enabled automatisms.

If you provide a record length, the data stream is wrapped into fixed- length binary records. This is useful to exchange fixed-length records with open standards like PGP or GZIP.

If you provide a binary delimiter, the data stream is wrapped into variable-length binary records.

If you provide row specifications through the table object, the binary blob is split into neutral FL5 table elements (rows and columns).

Binary data blocks are the simplest form of data type handled by FLAM. Binary data can only be accessed by byte offset. The structure of the data is unknown to FLAM.

Using only binary blocks with FLAM mainly equals the behavior and abilities of other encryption and compression tools. You may want to try one of the other available read methods to read structured data.

Arguments