Matthew Perdue wrote:

> The sort file needs more space than the exact number of records in the

> dataset, or possibly in your case the dataset's capacity. I'd suggest 
> having at least 20% more space available, more if you have the disc
space.

> Some sort routines need a large work space during the sorting process
and 
> of course not all sort routines are using the same algorithm.

This is making things more complicated than they need to be, assuming
you are using the SORT verb in HP COBOL II/iX.  In your :FILE command or
COBOL SELECT statement, you only need to specify the maximum number or
records that you will RELEASE to the SORT.  The COBOL run-time library
passes that on to the SORT subsystem, which takes care of allocating the
necessary amount of space.  You don't need to "help" the sort by padding
your figure for the maximum number of records.

If you don't specify the maximum number of records, the default is
10,000.

This is all documented pretty well in the COBOL II/XL Reference Manual,
in the chapter on SORT/MERGE operations.

Walter  

Walter J. Murray

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