I'm appending data from 5 different selections with the same layout into one hold file. I'm getting some strange characters in my Hold File when doing the fifth one. The first 4 give a correct result. The only difference is that the fifth one has less fields so I'm defining them to be able to match others. My code:

FILEDEF ALLDATA DISK ALLDATA (APPEND

...
-----------------
-One of the 4 appends:
-----------------
TABLE FILE ACTUAMON
SUM
NET_SALES_VALUE/D18.0
CREDIT_VALUE/D18.0
COMPUTE BUDGET/D18.0 = CO_PA_SALES * (NB_WD / TOT_WD);
BY
ZPROFCTR_KEY
BY
TIMESORT
BY
TIMENAME
BY
NB_WD
BY
TOT_WD
WHERE ZPROFCTR_KEY NE '#';
ON TABLE HOLD AS ALLDATA
END

-----------------
-The fifth append:
-----------------
DEFINE FILE HLDACANN
NB_WD/F4 = 0;
TOT_WD/F4 = 0;
TIMESORT/A1 = 'Z';
TIMENAME/A20 = 'ANNUAL';
END
TABLE FILE HLDACANN
SUM
NET_SALES_VALUE/D18.0
COMPUTE CREDIT_VALUE/D18.0 = 0;
COMPUTE BUDGET/D18.0 = CO_PA_SALES;
BY
ZPROFCTR_KEY
BY
TIMESORT
BY
TIMENAME
BY
NB_WD
BY
TOT_WD
WHERE ZPROFCTR_KEY NE '#';
ON TABLE HOLD AS ALLDATA
END

----------
Result
----------

PAGE 1

ZPROFCTR_KEY TIMESORT TIMENAME NB_WD TOT_WD Sales Update %Ach Credit
�Rc� C |C 00000010 9 0 0 .00 *********************** .0 0.
C |C 0000001084 0 0 .00 *********************** .0 ***********************
��@ �A tB;ڼO1D�@0000001042 0 0 .00 1,374,389,804,928. .0 ***********************
�? �A 0000001010 0 0 ********************** 6,422,194. *********************** 0.
d�'A 0A �AI�$I� A0000001042 0 0 ********************** 378,927. *********************** 0.
0A �A 0000001031 0 **** ********************** 815,979. *********************** 201,326,625.
0000001010 Q QUARTER-TO-D 0 0 1,374,389,804,928.00 1,451,638. 94,678,574.5 30,446,289.
Z� 0 **** ********************** 63,869. *********************** 1,374,389,804,928.
ثA �? �A �0 ��@0000001034 0 **** .00 46,907. .0 201,326,624.
���?A �A tB&C��]~A0000001011 0 **** **********************
...

When I remove the fifth append, the data is looking good.

Any idea???

Unless you set holdlist=printonly, the reformatted columns will appear twice (once with original format as an implicit NOPRINT columns, and again with the specified format).

There may be other nonconformity issues. Hold each of the 5 extracts separately, and check that the columns in the 5 generated MFDs are compatible in format (usage and actual).

Rather than having to manually check the conformity, I suggest you let Focus do the checking -- use the universal catenation ("MORE") feature.

I would suggest doing the following

1 - Use a FILEDEF without the APPEND before the first HOLD. After the first HOLD issue the FILEDEF with the APPEND. This will ensure you get a new ftm and mas each time you run.

2 - Use HOLD FORMAT ALPHA

With the HOLD FORMAT ALPHA it doesn't append, I only end-up with the last hold data in the file.

Another approach: use the MORE command instead of the FILEDEF APPEND method. The field names and formats must be the same for all tables.

SET ASNAMES ON
SET HOLDLIST PRINTONLY

TABLE FILE TABLE1
SUM T1COLUMN1 AS 'COLUMN1'
BY T1COLUMN2 AS 'COLUMN2'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HOLD1 FORMAT ALPHA
END

TABLE FILE TABLE2
SUM T2COLUMN1 AS 'COLUMN1'
BY T2COLUMN2 AS 'COLUMN2'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HOLD2 FORMAT ALPHA
END

TABLE FILE TABLE3
SUM T3COLUMN1 AS 'COLUMN1'
BY T3COLUMN2 AS 'COLUMN2'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HOLD3 FORMAT ALPHA
END

DEFINE FILE TABLE4
T4COLUMN2/P10 = 0;
END

TABLE FILE TABLE4
SUM T4COLUMN1 AS 'COLUMN1'
BY T4COLUMN2 AS 'COLUMN2'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HOLD4 FORMAT ALPHA
END

TALE FILE TABLE1
SUM COLUMN1
BY COLUMN2
ON TABLE HOLD AS HOLDALL FORMAT ALPHA
MORE
FILE HOLD2
MORE
FILE HOLD3
MORE
FILE HOLD4
END

HOLD FORMAT ALPHA should work the same as HOLD. You should have:

FILEDEF ALLDATA DISK ALLDATA
TABLE FILE ...
...
ON TABLE HOLD AS ALLDATA FORMAT ALPHA
END
FILEDEF ALLDATA DISK ALLDATA (APPEND
TABLE FILE ..
....
ON TABLE HOLD AS ALLDATA FORMAT ALPHA
END

i'm curious about why you need to 'see' the file?
its binary, you have double precision data fields, so you can't expect to 'see' it, as you would in ascii...
Use MORE... , make your aggregate file, then dump the aggregate to a HOLD FORMAT ALPHA.

Well, I don't need to "see" the file, it's just that when it's binary, it's not possible to output it, everything is all mixed-up... Anyway.

Thanks Pietro, I did the MORE technique and everything works like a charm now! I never heard of that command before.

Things are so strange sometimes when I use Bex (SAP-BW) as my source data. I always get strange results, I hate Bex for that.

Thanks to everybody for the quick answers.