"Jeff Kell" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message news:3debe663$1@skycache-news.fidnet.com... > Tracy Pierce wrote: > > > > from the Cobol manual page 6-26: use the Cobol DELETE verb to clobber > > records in an RIO file. exactly what sort of FWRITE intrinsic call this > > generates is unclear, but do you really care? > > IIRC, you 'delete' a record by setting the first byte (bytes?) to the > COBOL 'HIGH-VALUES' (all bits set to one). > > Jeff > As I recall, the first 2 bytes are COBOL 'HIGH-VALUES' or PIC S9(4) COMP VALUE -1. I came across this some years ago when the data in the first 2 bytes of a record could be -1 and I found I couldn't read these records. That one took a bit of finding... Mark * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *