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Status Not under consideration
Created by Guest
Created on Nov 20, 2020

Allow more than one separator character when unloading in delimited format

A competitor's unload tool allowed us to specify more than one character in the separator field when unloading data in delimited format.

We had to use more than one character, because for unloads of certain tables, we couldn't find a character that didn't also appear in the data somewhere.

So using 2 or more characters enabled us to overcome this issue.

We no longer have the competitor's unload tool. When we next have to unload these tables in delimited format using HPU, our workaround will probably be to select a literal of e.g. '###' between each column.

The competitor's manual stated that only one separator character was allowed, but it did accept 4 characters when running the unload!

So we did try using more than one separator character in HPU just in case the manual wasn't accurate as with the competitor's. While more than one character was truncated in the data, more than one character was allowed when specifying TITLE ON. We raised case TS004488740 and IBM has raised APAR PH31907 to correct that mis-match, to bring the number of separator characters in the header in line with what's allowed in the data.

The case recommended raising an AHA idea to allow more than one separator character.

Needed by Date May 20, 2021