[OT] IND$FILE Settings for 'Tab-Delimited' ASCII File

[docd...@panix.com]

I've got a file that I'm looking to load into a dataset and it's proving
to be a nuisance.

The file is created by Unix-based processes and uses X'25' as a
record-delimiter. It's supposed to wind up as a collection of
160-character records, space-padded as needed.

Starting with clicking the 'Unix File' box on I've tried just about every
combination and permutation of setting, variations, options and flavors
the TSO File tab allows: fixed length, VB, Undefined, None and lengths of
160, 161 and 162 but nothing works; the output winds up as:

FIRST-SHORT-REC(X'25')SECONDREC DATA HERE AS FAR AS IT GOES(X'25')THIRD
REC HERE FOR SOME MORE(X'25)FOURTH RECORD AT THIS POINT (&c)

That kind of 'striping' of records usually happens when the output LRECL
and the input don't match (and that kind of fits in with X'25' delimiters
instead of X'0D0A'.

Is there a setting I'm missing... or is there a quick-and-dirty PC-based
utility that will get it from variable-length tab-delimited format to
LRECL 160 with space-padding?

Thanks much.

DD

[docd...@panix.com]

In article <qvr1jg9l3lc10en76...@4ax.com>,
Dennis Lee Bieber <wlf...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 2 Sep 2021 14:47:26 -0000 (UTC), docd...@panix.com () declaimed
>the following:

>
>>Starting with clicking the 'Unix File' box on I've tried just about every
>>combination and permutation of setting, variations, options and flavors
>>the TSO File tab allows: fixed length, VB, Undefined, None and lengths of
>>160, 161 and 162 but nothing works; the output winds up as:
>>
>>FIRST-SHORT-REC(X'25')SECONDREC DATA HERE AS FAR AS IT GOES(X'25')THIRD
>>REC HERE FOR SOME MORE(X'25)FOURTH RECORD AT THIS POINT (&c)

[snip]

> Any further processing might need one to write a script on the source
>OS (I'd suggest Python, using one of the dialects of the "csv" module to
>parse the input, and an output statement using fixed width formatting codes
>-- you'll have to figure out what widths each field requires).

Greatly appreciated, Mr Bieber, but I had to move too quickly to solve it
fast so I had to solve it slowly:

Open the file in Wordpad, save it into a new copy.

Tell IND$FILE that the new file is ASCII CRLF and it loads like a champ.

Thanks much!

DD