Hi,

I have recently come across the -READ command, however I have found very little documentation.

I have an example of the statement, but for some reason it only worked once in the procedure and when I tried changing the command it failed..:

Successful:

-READ BRANCH &FILL1.A7. &BRANCH_NAME.A50

Failed:

-READ USDNETPNL_PROFIT &FILL1.A7. &PL_GAIN.A50

Can someone explain to me or point out documentation on how this command works?

From the WF 7.0 documentation.

(Filename is usally 8 positons or less.)

The documentation states:

-READ filename[,] [NOCLOSE] &name[.format.][,][&name][.format.]where:

filename[,]

Is the name of the external file, which must be defined to the operating system. A space after filename denotes a fixed-format file, while a comma denotes a free-format file.


On UNIX and Windows platforms, a FILEDEF for the external file is required.

On OS/390, the external file must be allocated in the JCL or dynamically allocated by WebFOCUS with the ALLOCATE command.

NOCLOSE

Keeps the external file open until the -READ operation is complete. Files kept open with NOCLOSE can be closed using the command -CLOSE filename or a subsequent -WRITE command. The option NOCLOSE is available only in OS/390.


&name[,]

Is the variable name. For free-format files, you may separate the variable names with commas. If the list of variables is longer than one line, end the first line with a comma and begin the next line with a dash followed by a blank. Use a dash and a comma for comma-delimited files.


Free-format


-READ EXTFILE, &CITY, &CODE1,- &CODE2Fixed-format


-READ EXTFILE &CITY.A8. &CODE1.A3.,-, &CODE2.A3..format.

Is the format of the variable. For a free-format file, you do not have to specify this value, but you may. For a fixed-format file, format is the length or the length and type of the variable (A is the default type). The value of format must be delimited by periods. The format is ignored for comma-delimited files.


Note: Instead of using .format., you can specify the length of a variable using -SET and enclosing the corresponding number of blanks in single quotes. For example:


-SET &CITY=' ';-SET &CODE1=' '; -SET &CODE2=' ';

Thanks for the help