Dave,

Thanks for your reply.

<<So, if you could have a process merely open and close the message file without
reading it, the numbers would match.>>

I need the value while the file is open. This file is used by Netbase to post to
the shadow data base. It is open while the records from it are being read and
posted. Once it is empty, it is closed and I am no longer interested in it. The
following output is from LISTF. Right now, records from IQ010033 are being read
and posted. I need to know at any given moment how many records remain to be
posted. My MPEX command file does not see the correct value for IQ010033. It
returns a much greater number. Since files 34-40 are at the moment static, MPEX
sees a correct number. I assume I have a similar problem (similar to file 33)
with file 41 that currently has records being added to it. In the time it took
me to write the last two sentences, the EOF from LISTF for file 33 dropped to
492895, and 41 is up to 5322.

IQ010033*       14331W  VBM     495089       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010034        14331W  VBM     279421       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010035        14331W  VBM     255182       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010036        14331W  VBM     257167       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010037        14331W  VBM     240928       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010038        14331W  VBM     225222       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010039        14331W  VBM     258275       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010040        14331W  VBM     248250       4103   1   459536  *  *
IQ010041*       14331W  VBM       1061       4103   1     2048  4  *

<<I am perplexed over why you would want the unreliable LISTF value.>>

Because LISTF seems to be telling the truth or the value it returns more closely
reflects reality. This is an MSG file. As records are read they are destroyed
(logically or physically, I am not sure, but I do not care).

FINFO's return EOF never changes on a file that is being read, although I can
see it going up for a file that is being written to. I have not had a chance to
examince the two EOF values for a message file that is being read and written to
at the same time. The LISTF EOF value is constantly declining each time I
execute a LISTF.

LISTF may not be up to the nanosecond, but the information is closer to what I
need: the total of the EOF values for these IQ files.

===================
Leonard S. Berkowitz
Perot Health Care Systems
(Harvard Pilgrim Health Care account)
voice: 617-509-1212
fax:   617-509-3737
pager: 781-226-2431