Very complex report with numerous matches and holds along the way and I'm reaching a point where the output is supposed to simply do a print out of the current fields and what I get says:

HOLDING ...
>>>

It never seems to hold the file I'm trying to hold..just gets stuck right there. Does anyone have any ideas I can try? The name of the hold file doesn't seem to matter nor does the length of the name...This is technically on UNIX FOCUS, although I can repeat the error on WebFOCUS as well.

I'd love some 'debug' ideas as we've played with it for a day or so.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

It would be helpful if you pasted your code so we can see it.

As far as debug ideas, put -EXIT in the program starting near the beginning and moving down until you can exactly pinpoint where the error is. Then start commenting out lines and adding them back one at a time. I know this is brute force, but without seeing your code, it is difficult to offer advice.

It is about 6000 lines of code so I'm not going to post the entire thing, but here is a piece right where it is getting stuck:

-**********************

MATCH FILE MLST_B10
PRINT
ML10_MO1
ML10_MO2
ML10_MO3
ML10_MO4
BY IR_PER
AFTER MATCH HOLD OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B9
PRINT
ML9_MO1
ML9_MO2
ML9_MO3
ML9_MO4
BY IR_PER
AFTER MATCH HOLD OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B8
PRINT
ML8_MO1
ML8_MO2
ML8_MO3
ML8_MO4
BY IR_PER
AFTER MATCH HOLD OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B7
PRINT
ML7_MO1
ML7_MO2
ML7_MO3
ML7_MO4
BY IR_PER
AFTER MATCH HOLD AS ST11 OLD-OR-NEW
END
-RUN
TABLE FILE ST11
PRINT *
BY IR_PER
ON TABLE HOLD AS STAN01
END


-*
MATCH FILE MLSTN_B6
PRINT
ML6_MO1
ML6_MO2
ML6_MO3
ML6_MO4
BY IR_PER
-* AFTER MATCH HOLD OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B5
PRINT
ML5_MO1
ML5_MO2
ML5_MO3
ML5_MO4
BY IR_PER
-* AFTER MATCH HOLD OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B4
PRINT
ML4_MO1
ML4_MO2
ML4_MO3
ML4_MO4
BY IR_PER
-* AFTER MATCH HOLD OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B3
PRINT
ML3_MO1
ML3_MO2
ML3_MO3
ML3_MO4
BY IR_PER
-* AFTER MATCH HOLD OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B2
PRINT
ML2_MO1
ML2_MO2
ML2_MO3
ML2_MO4
BY IR_PER
-* AFTER MATCH HOLD AS OLD-OR-NEW
RUN
-*
FILE MLSTN_B1
PRINT
ML1_MO1
ML1_MO2
ML1_MO3
ML1_MO4
BY IR_PER
AFTER MATCH HOLD AS ST22 OLD-OR-NEW
END
-RUN
TABLE FILE ST22
PRINT *
BY IR_PER
ON TABLE HOLD AS STAN02
END
-RUN

MATCH FILE ST11
PRINT *
BY IR_PER
RUN
FILE ST22
PRINT *
BY IR_PER
-*WHERE IR_PER CONTAINS '328554' OR '615493' OR '486555'
AFTER MATCH HOLD AS BLOB OLD-OR-NEW
END
-RUN
TABLE FILE BLOB
PRINT *
BY IR_PER
ON TABLE HOLD AS GRET
END
-RUN



-*
-* Now sort all the records to make an ordered file.
-*
TABLE FILE GRET
PRINT
ML1_MO1
ML1_MO2
ML1_MO3
ML1_MO4
ML2_MO1
ML2_MO2
ML2_MO3
ML2_MO4
ML3_MO1
ML3_MO2
ML3_MO3
ML3_MO4
ML4_MO1
ML4_MO2
ML4_MO3
ML4_MO4
ML5_MO1
ML5_MO2
ML5_MO3
ML5_MO4
ML6_MO1
ML6_MO2
ML6_MO3
ML6_MO4
ML7_MO1
ML7_MO2
ML7_MO3
ML7_MO4
ML8_MO1
ML8_MO2
ML8_MO3
ML8_MO4
ML9_MO1
ML9_MO2
ML9_MO3
ML9_MO4
ML10_MO1
ML10_MO2
ML10_MO3
ML10_MO4
BY E01 AS 'IR_PER'
ON TABLE HOLD AS MLST_ALL FORMAT FOCUS INDEX IR_PER
-END
-****************************

It gets through everything up to this final ON TABLE HOLD statement and at that point it just hangs. We've tried it with the FORMAT FOCUS, without it, FILEDEF'ing it...You name it...Here is how the last few lines of output look:
>>

MERGE: RECORDS= 159 LINES= 159


NUMBER OF RECORDS SELECTED= 159 LINES= 159


MERGE: RECORDS= 953 LINES= 953


MERGE: RECORDS= 1906 LINES= 1906


MERGE: RECORDS= 2859 LINES= 2859


MERGE: RECORDS= 3812 LINES= 3812


MERGE: RECORDS= 3906 LINES= 3906


NUMBER OF RECORDS SELECTED= 3906 LINES= 3906


LINES OF MATCH OUTPUT = 3954



HOLDING...
>>

MERGE: RECORDS= 565 LINES= 565


MERGE: RECORDS= 1130 LINES= 1130


MERGE: RECORDS= 1695 LINES= 1695


MERGE: RECORDS= 2260 LINES= 2260


MERGE: RECORDS= 2825 LINES= 2825


MERGE: RECORDS= 3390 LINES= 3390


MERGE: RECORDS= 3954 LINES= 3954


NUMBER OF RECORDS IN TABLE= 3954 LINES= 3954




HOLDING...
>>>

You need an END statement at the end not -END.

Sometimes it is the forehead slapper kinds of errors - Two of us looking at it all morning and neither of us catches what amounts to a Typo - "Doh".

Thanks everyone!

Not to worry ... we've all done it more than we'd like to admit!