CONV READ/WRITE Overview

The 'read' part describes how input data should be handled, whereas the 'write' part describes how to write the data which strongly depends on how it was read.

READ

• RECORD
  • FIX, read records with a fixed length
  • VARIABLE, e.g. record starts with length field
  • DELIM, record ends with defined delimiter (like READ.TEXT but just one delimiter is defined)
  • Character conversion, if CCSID is set, else binary handling
  • Records as output
• TEXT
  • Record length is ignored/lost
  • Text is split at delimiters (all usual text delimiters) and separated into a record and a rest portion (trailing whitespace + delimiter)
  • Automatic character conversion
  • Records as output
• CHAR
  • Record length is ignored/lost
  • Reads all characters, delimiters are also part of the data
  • Automatic character conversion
  • Blocks as output (block handling)
• BIN
  • Record length is ignored/lost
  • Reads all bytes as is
  • Blocks as output (block handling)

WRITE

READ / WRITE	RECORD	TEXT
RECORD	FIX, write with fixed length VARIABLE, e.g. write with length fields Character conversion only if CCSID is set If printable characters Else binary handling	Read records are complemented with a delimiter Non Host files e.g. USS Definition of own delimiter is possible Automatic character conversion
TEXT	Read text records are written (rest portion is dropped) Usually VB Other record formats also possible Padding on FIX records Automatic character conversion	Read text records are written (rest portion is dropped) Supplemented with system delimiter Definition of own delimiter is allowed Automatic character conversion
CHAR	Usually not useful! Read blocks are cut into records Default: VB with n records and smaller rest at the end Automatic character conversion	!!! ERROR !!!
BIN	Usually not useful! Read blocks are cut into records Default: VB with n records and smaller rest at the end Automatic character conversion, if required	!!! ERROR !!!

READ / WRITE	CHAR	BIN
RECORD	Records are concatenated Automatic character conversion No delimiter supplement	Records are concatenated Binary handling
TEXT	Read text records are written with original delimiters Automatic character conversion	Keep internal representation (UTF-8) of text Read text records are written with original delimiters
CHAR	Automatic character conversion	Keep internal representation (UTF-8) of text
BIN	Read data is assumed to be in local charset Writes character blocks Possibly character conversion	Read binary blocks will be written