unblock

unblock removes the blocking indicator from the beginning of each group of records in a print stream. For example, it can be used prior to running Enrichment because while Enrichment does not recognize record blocking, it does recognize record length indicators

Syntax

unblock [-e= -h -i –p=] inputfile outputfile

Parameter Description Default
-e= The byte order in both the blocking length and record length indicator, as follows:
  • B — The length indicator is coded with the most significant byte first. This is commonly called Big Endian.
  • L — The length indicator is coded with the least significant byte first. This is commonly called Little Endian.
 L
-h Displays help for the utility.
-i The blocking indicator includes its own length and the length of the block of records. If you do not use -i, the blocking indicator includes only the length of the block of records.
-p= The length of the blocking indicator, as follows:
  • 2 — Two bytes are used for the blocking indicator.
  • 4 — Four bytes are used for the blocking indicator.
 2
inputfile The name of the input file.
outputfile The name of the output file.

Example

unblock -e=L -p=4 -i p2pef.tst p2pef.out

In this example, each record in the input (p2pef.tst) contains a four-byte length indicator. The length indicators include their own length and are coded with the least significant byte first. unblock is to remove blocking indicators from the input records and place the result in the output p2pef.out.