Fellow Listers,

While researching a problem with a specific batch job I had to 'scan' the spool
files in 'OUT.HPSPOOL' searching for a specific string pattern.  The utility
that I used is written in SPL and opens the files in 'MR;NOBUF' mode reading in
large blocks of data and then uses the record/block size of the file to 'step'
through it.

The utility kept aborting on a specific spool file, 'O8042.OUT.HPSPOOL' which
happened to be open (in the create state).  Further investigation showed that
the reason for the abort was the erroneous values for 'record size' and 'block
size' returned by FGETINFO.  The returned values were -133 and -134,
respectively,  and -1008 and -1024 respectively when the above file was closed
(batch job was terminated and spool file went into the ready state).  Even the
variable for the fully qualified file name would contain 'O8042' when the file
was open and 'O8042.OUT.HPSPOOL' when the file was closed.

I have an open call to the RC hoping that a 'work around' maybe available, but I
also decided to check with the collective wisdom of this list for possible
solutions.

Regards
Paul H. Christidis

P.S.  Is there a specific 'foptions' bit setting that could be used to identify
a file as a spool file?
P.P.S. Is there something similar for 'byte stream' files?