Invoking Mfsort

You can invoke mfsort from the command line in one of the following ways:

mfsort instructions
mfsort take filename

where the parameters are:

Parameter Description
instructions Mfsort instructions.
When specifying instructions on the command line:
  • The maximum length of the mfsort command is 1024 characters. Characters after this limit are ignored, and if this truncation causes an invalid command, an error is produced.
  • Allow the shell to pass through special characters such as parentheses or comment characters (*) in one of the following ways:
    • Use quotes """" to enclose parentheses
    • Place an escape character \ directly in front of a parenthesis or a comment character
filename A text file containing mfsort instructions. See the section Instructions. Use this method if you need to specify a lot of instructions.

This file must be a line sequential file, and the first 256 characters are processed as the command line. Characters that exceed this limit are processed separately if they form a valid command; however, this may result in undesired sort results. If this truncation causes an invalid or incomplete command, an error is produced.