I've just been doing what Tom says.  Works.
Let me just add:
1:    PURGE FOO2, TEMP
2:    Backreference finfo -- IF FINFO('*FOO2','EXISTS'), etc.  (Courtesy of
Stan last week).
3:    When you test a routine that uses temp files, and you don't expect to
have a perm file, its a good idea to build a (not so) permanent file with
the same name but totally different characteristics, like a small rec size
that would truncate your data if you wrote to the wrong one.
4:    Things might get uglier if you toss compiler defaults into the mix
(?).  Its been 20 years since someone here tried a cobol sort file with the
same name as a permanent file, so I don't remember exactly what the error
was, but it didn't work.

Dave Powell, MMfab.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Brandt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 05:39
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Temp vs. Perm file


> Actually you can have a permanent file and a temporary file with the same
> name and access each independently.
>
> :BUILD FOO
> :BUILD FOO;TEMP
>
> :FILE FOO1=FOO,OLD
> :FILE FOO2=FOO,OLDTEMP
>
> *FOO1 will access the permanent file, *FOO2 will access the temporary
> file.  You cannot, as you point, save the temporary FOO file as a
permanent
> file unless you rename it.
<snip>
> --
> Tom Brandt
> Northtech Systems, Inc.
> 130 S. 1st Street, Suite 220
> Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1343
> http://www.northtech.com/
>
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