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I need to parse a COBOL index file using a perl script.
I don't know _that_ much about COBOL but it seems the index file is
written in some kind of binary format, its not ASCII, thats for sure!

Has this been done before?
Is there an existing library I can use for this?

failing that...
Does anyone know how COBOL writes its index files and how I could go
about parsing them with perl?
Or is there a simple way to read and parse binary style data?

Gabkin wrote:

> I need to parse a COBOL index file using a perl script.
> I don't know _that_ much about COBOL but it seems the index file is
> written in some kind of binary format, its not ASCII, thats for sure!
>
> Has this been done before?
> Is there an existing library I can use for this?
>
> failing that...
> Does anyone know how COBOL writes its index files and how I could go
> about parsing them with perl?
> Or is there a simple way to read and parse binary style data?

perldoc -f read
perldoc -f unpack
perldoc -f binmode

<http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=all&query=COBOL> gave:
<http://search.cpan.org/~grommel/Convert-IBM390-0.18/IBM390.pm>
"A COBOL EXAMPLE"

<http://www.google.com/search?q=COBOL+%22index+file%22+specification>
<http://myfileformats.com/search.php?cat_id=170&cat_name=Miscellaneous&start =1>
Ryan McFarland (RM-COBOL) Index File layout

Might be helpful.

--
John MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
personal page: http://johnbokma.com/
Experienced Perl programmer available: http://castleamber.com/
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Gabkin <> wrote in comp.lang.perl.misc:
> I need to parse a COBOL index file using a perl script.
> I don't know _that_ much about COBOL but it seems the index file is
> written in some kind of binary format, its not ASCII, thats for sure!
>
> Has this been done before?
> Is there an existing library I can use for this?
>
> failing that...
> Does anyone know how COBOL writes its index files and how I could go
> about parsing them with perl?
> Or is there a simple way to read and parse binary style data?

There is (see "perldoc -f pack" and "perldoc -f unpack"), but you got
to know the style. I have no idea what an index file is in COBOL,
but it's quite possible that the format depends on the particular
system and compiler.

Anno

Gabkin <> wrote:

> I need to parse a COBOL index file using a perl script.
> I don't know _that_ much about COBOL but it seems the index file is
> written in some kind of binary format, its not ASCII, thats for sure!
>
> Has this been done before?


Google Groups is your friend:

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q...lang.perl.misc


> Is there an existing library I can use for this?


CPAN is your friend:

http://search.cpan.org/search?query=cobol&mode=all


> Does anyone know how COBOL writes its index files


Usenet is your friend:

comp.lang.cobol

Which leads you to your new friend, Google Groups, again:

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_e...omp.lang.cobol


> and how I could go
> about parsing them with perl?


perldoc -f pack
perldoc -f unpack
perldoc -f seek
perldoc -f read


> Or is there a simple way to read and parse binary style data?
^^^^^^

The Perl FAQ is your friend:

perldoc -q binary

How do I handle binary data correctly?
How do I randomly update a binary file?


--
Tad McClellan SGML consulting
Perl programming
Fort Worth, Texas

<selective snippings>
>>Has this been done before?

> Google Groups is your friend:
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q...lang.perl.misc
>
>>Is there an existing library I can use for this?
>
>
> CPAN is your friend:
>
> http://search.cpan.org/search?query=cobol&mode=all
>
>>Does anyone know how COBOL writes its index files
>
> Usenet is your friend:
>
> comp.lang.cobol
>
> Which leads you to your new friend, Google Groups, again:
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?as_e...omp.lang.cobol
>
>>Or is there a simple way to read and parse binary style data?
>
> ^^^^^^
>
> The Perl FAQ is your friend:
>
> perldoc -q binary
>
> How do I handle binary data correctly?
> How do I randomly update a binary file?
>
>

Wow, whatalot of friends I've got!


Thanks, will check out those sources.