Calling the Sort program

You should write the CALL PLISRTx statement with some care. This topic lists the entry points and arguments that you can use.

Table 1. The entry points and arguments to PLISRT`x` (`x` = A, B, C, or D)
Entry points	Arguments
PLISRTA Sort input: data set Sort output: data set	(sort statement,record statement,storage,return code [,data set prefix,message level, sort technique])
PLISRTB Sort input: PL/I subroutine Sort output: data set	(sort statement,record statement,storage,return code,input routine [,data set prefix,message level,sort technique])
PLISRTC Sort input: data set Sort output: PL/I subroutine	(sort statement,record statement,storage,return code,output routine [,data set prefix,message level,sort technique])
PLISRTD Sort input: PL/I subroutine Sort output: PL/I subroutine	(sort statement,record statement,storage,return code,input routine,output routine[,data set prefix,message level,sort technique])
Sort statement	Character string expression containing the Sort program SORT statement. Describes sorting fields and format. See Specifying the sorting field.
Record statement	Character string expression containing the Sort program RECORD statement. Describes the length and record format of data. See Specifying the records to be sorted.
Storage	Fixed binary expression giving maximum amount of main storage to be used by the Sort program. Must be >88K bytes for DFSORT. See also Determining storage needed for Sort.
Return code	Fixed binary variable of precision (31,0) in which Sort places a return code when it has completed. The meaning of the return code is: 0=Sort successful 16=Sort failed 20=Sort message data set missing
Input routine	(PLISRTB and PLISRTD only.) Name of the PL/I external or internal procedure used to supply the records for the Sort program at sort exit E15.
Output routine	(PLISRTC and PLISRTD only.) Name of the PL/I external or internal procedure to which Sort passes the sorted records at sort exit E35.
ddname prefix	Character string expression of four characters that replaces the default prefix of 'SORT' in the ddnames of the sort data sets SORTIN, SORTOUT and SORTWKnn, and if used, SORTCNTL. Thus if the argument is “TASK”, the ddnames TASKIN, TASKOUT, TASKWKnn, and TASKCNTL can be used. This facility enables multiple invocations of Sort to be made in the same job step. The four characters must start with an alphabetic character and must not be one of the reserved names PEER, BALN, CRCX, OSCL, POLY, DIAG, SYSC, or LIST. You must code a null string for this argument if you require either of the following arguments but do not require this argument.
Message level	Character string expression of two characters indicating how Sort's diagnostic messages are to be handled, as follows: NO No messages to SYSOUT AP All messages to SYSOUT CP Critical messages to SYSOUT SYSOUT will normally be allocated to the printer, hence the use of the mnemonic letter “P”. Other codes are also allowed for certain of the Sort programs. For further details on these codes, see DFSORT Application Programming Guide. You must code a null string for this argument if you require the following argument but you do not require this argument.
Sort technique	(This is not used by DFSORT; it appears for compatibility reasons only.) Character string of length 4 that indicates the type of sort to be carried out, as follows: PEER Peerage sort BALN Balanced CRCX Criss-cross sort OSCL Oscillating POLY Polyphase sort Normally the Sort program will analyze the amount of space available and choose the most effective technique without any action from you. You should use this argument only as a bypass for sorting problems or when you are certain that performance could be improved by another technique. See DFSORT Application Programming Guide for further information.

The following examples indicate the form that the CALL PLISRTx statement normally takes.