Ahlsort
| Developer(s) | Ahlbrandt Software, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 15.7
/ July 12, 2023 |
| Engine | |
| Operating system | Windows, Linux, AIX, Solaris, IBM z/Linux |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Data Management |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www.ahlsort.com |
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AHLSORT
AHLSORT is a sorting and merging utility developed by Ahlbrandt Software, Inc., a company specializing in the development and support of Enterprise Class Software Applications for high performance data management tasks. Drawing from their extensive experience in the Enterprise Systems and R&D groups of a major data management firm, Ahlbrandt Software, Inc. identified an opportunity to migrate expensive data processing from Mainframe computers to high performance UNIX and Windows servers. With a dedicated focus on delivering efficient Enterprise Class Sorting capabilities to the UNIX and Windows markets, Ahlbrandt Software, Inc. offers the AHLSORT product to customers worldwide. The sorting tool has established partnerships with ITGAIN[1] in Germany[2] and North America, Proximal Systems Corporation, Inc.[3] in North America, and Soft2Solve[4] in Spain.
AHLSORT serves as a general purpose sort/merge utility for processing Flat Files. It offers support for all data formats and record types, along with general purpose record level processing for file and data conversions. These functions are optimized for maximum performance. AHLSORT is one among several commercially available general purpose sort utilities in the market.[5]
The developers of AHLSORT aim for complete compatibility with IBM's DFSORT for z/OS, enabling the processing of data on non-z/OS platforms like Microsoft Windows, Linux, Oracle Solaris, AIX and z/Linux. AHLSORT's command syntax aligns with that of IBM's DFSORT for z/OS.[6] The utility is also certified by Red Hat.[7].
With complete support for the DFSORT and MFX command sets, AHLSORT facilitates seamless migration of legacy batch processing to modern computing platforms. The application has been employed in a technical review specifically focused on mainframe migration.[8]
AHLSORT is used across diverse industries, including: Consulting, Data Management, Financial Services, Insurance, Publishing, Retail, and more.
General Features
Sort
Sorting is the process of rearranging the records in a file in a new order. Such as sorting by Name, Address, Telephone Number or ZIP Code. The SORT control statement is used to invoke the sorting process.
[9]
AHLSORT is an alternative to MFSORT that fully supports the DFSORT FINDREP command.[10]
Merge
Merging is the process of combining sequences of sorted records in two or more input files into a single sorted output file. The MERGE control statement is used to invoke the merging process.
[11]
Reformat
Reformatting is the process of changing input records to add or remove data fields. Reformatting may be performed with or without sorting or merging. Reformatting is performed with the INREC and
OUTREC control statements.[12]
The reformatting feature is verified with AHLSORT that works like DFSORT and SYNSORT.[13]
Join
Joining is the process of Joining two different record types from two files into a single output file.
Joining files is performed by using the JOINKEYS and JOIN control statements.[14]
Users reference the correct syntax and testing of the Join feature on StackOverflow.[15]
Aggregate
Aggregating is the process of consolidating similar records by summing, averaging, computing minimums or maximums of data in the records.
Aggregating is performed by using the SORT control statement.
Users verify the correct syntax and testing of the SUM feature on StackOverflow.[16]
Other Features
ICETOOL
ICETOOL is a program offered by IBM to allow multiple DFSORT processing steps to be combined into a single script. AHLSORT supports many of the options used ICETOOL in the COPY, COUNT, DATASORT, DEFAULTS, DISPLAY, MERGE, MODE, OCCUR, RANGE, RESIZE, SELECT, SORT, SPLICE, STATS, SUBSET, UNIQUE and VERIFY commands.
SYMNAMES
AHLSORT supports the DFSORT SYMNAMES functionality by allowing symbolic names to be specified for positions in input and output records.
JCL DD DCB Information
IBM Mainframes store dataset (file) attribute information such as record length, record format, block size in the disk VTOC. In Windows, Unix and Linux filesystems, the concept of a VTOC does not exist.
The information that is stored in the VTOC and specified in the input (and output) file specification by coding the DCB= parameter.
For example: to process a file from the mainframe that contains Fixed Length records of 80 bytes each, the command would be:
> ./ahlsort ' SORT FIELDS=(72,8,ZD,A)' 'INPUT,DCB=(LRECL=80,RECFM=F)' 'OUTPUT'
References
- ↑ "ITGAIN".
- ↑ "ITGAIN Documentation" (PDF).
- ↑ "Proximal Systems Corporation, Inc" (PDF). November 14, 2014.
- ↑ "Soft2Solve".
- ↑ "Syncsort Inc. v. Sequential Software, Inc., 50 F. Supp. 2d 318 (D.N.J. 1999)". January 28, 1999.
- ↑ "IFL – A Cost Efficient zSeries Platform?". September 3, 2014.
- ↑ "Red Hat certification".
- ↑ "Download Migration. Technical Review". July 5, 2017.
- ↑ "SORT control statement". March 3, 2021.
- ↑ "SORT Ahlsort Verified". April 21, 2021.
- ↑ "MERGE control statement". March 3, 2021.
- ↑ "INREC statement notes". March 3, 2021.
- ↑ "AHLSORT Reformat". April 21, 2021.
- ↑ "Join statement in JCL". June 25, 2020.
- ↑ "Join verified". January 15, 2022.
- ↑ "SUM FIELDS in DFSORT". January 15, 2022.
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