Thank you one and all. Especially Lizzete in an offline.
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/forums/html/topic?id=4a12d0d1-9847-4e01-9586-e0897241edc0 and the topics pointed to by it rang all the bells. Both input and output are forced to move mode as opposed to locate mode. This causes a small CPU penalty in both cases. Obviously (now, ouch) you cannot operate in the output buffer if the space remaining available is less than the length of the record you are trying to build - S0C4. Hence you build it in a work area long enough for the longest possible record and WRITE moves it to the buffer if there is room (with AWO). Without AWO or APPLY WRITE-ONLY for the file the buffer must always have room for you the construct the next record as a maximum length record. Why it affect the inputs I still do not quite understand but I do know that it does ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
