UNIQUE Operator (for Experienced)


  • UNIQUE operator prints a message with the unique values count for a specified numeric or character field.

Syntax -

UNIQUE Operator

Required Operands


FROM -

  • FROM parameter specifies ddname of the input file.
  • indd DD statement is mandatory if FROM operand specified.

ON -

  • ON operator specifies the field(s) used for DISPLAY operation.
  • 1 to 50 ON fields can be specified with the DISPLAY operation.
    • (p,m,f) gives the position, length, and format of a numeric or character field. The field should not be beyond position 32752 or the end of the record.
    • (p,m,f, formatting) gives a numeric or character field's position, length, and format. It also specifies how the data is to be formatted for printing for this field. The field should not be beyond position 32752 or the end of the record.
    • VLEN is equivalent to ON(1,2, BI) for variable-length records, representing each record's record length.

Optional Operands


VSAMTYPE -

  • VSAMTYPE operand specifies the record format for a VSAM input file (F or V).

UZERO -

  • Causes -0 to be treated as unsigned, that is, as 0.

Example -


Scenario - Print unique values count of a specific field.

In the below example, we are printing the unique values count for country field (2 columns length from 60th column).

INPUT1 - MATEPK.INPUT.PSFILE

 BROWSE    MATEPK.INPUT.PSFILE                        Line 00000000 Col 001 080 
 Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> CSR  
----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7----+----8
********************************* Top of Data **********************************
001  PAWAN         MAINFRAME           JPM       AP        IN                   
002  SRINIVAS      TESTING             ORACLE    TG        IN                   
003  SRIDHAR       SAS                 CG        OR        US                   
004  VENKATESH     ABAP                CSC       CA        IN                   
005  RAVI          HADOOP              CTS       FL        US                   
006  PRASAD        HR                  INFOSYS   MI        US                   
007  RAJA          TESTING             IBM       CA        US                   
******************************** Bottom of Data ********************************

JCL -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7--
***************************** Top of Data ******************************
//MATEPKSP JOB (123),'MATEPK',CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=A,MSGLEVEL=(1,1),        
//             NOTIFY=&SYSUID                                           
//*                                                                     
//STEP01   EXEC PGM=ICETOOL                                             
//INDD     DD DSN=MATEPK.INPUT.PSFILE,DISP=SHR                          
//TOOLIN   DD *                                                         
  UNIQUE FROM(INDD) ON(60,2,CH)                            
/*                                                                      
//TOOLMSG  DD SYSOUT=*                                                  
//DFSMSG   DD SYSOUT=*                                                  
//                                                                      
**************************** Bottom of Data ****************************

TOOLMSG (SDSF SPOOL) - Verify TOOLMSG for the return code of the submitted job.

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7----+----8----+----9
********************************* TOP OF DATA ********************************************
1ICE600I 0 DFSORT ICETOOL UTILITY RUN STARTED                                   
                                                                                
 ICE650I 0 VISIT http://www.ibm.com/storage/dfsort FOR ICETOOL PAPERS, EXAMPLES AND MORE 
                                                                                
 ICE632I 0 SOURCE FOR ICETOOL STATEMENTS:  TOOLIN                               
                                                                                
                                                                                
 ICE630I 0 MODE IN EFFECT:  STOP                                                
                                                                                
             UNIQUE FROM(INDD) ON(60,2,CH)                                 
 ICE627I 0 DFSORT CALL 0001 FOR SORT FROM INDD     TO E35 EXIT COMPLETED   
 ICE628I 0 RECORD COUNT:  000000000000007                                  
 ICE610I 0 NUMBER OF UNIQUE VALUES FOR (60,2,CH)     :  000000000000002    
 ICE602I 0 OPERATION RETURN CODE:  00                                      
                                                                                
                                                                                
 ICE601I 0 DFSORT ICETOOL UTILITY RUN ENDED - RETURN CODE:  00                  
******************************** BOTTOM OF DATA ******************************************

Explaining Solution -

  • INDD - Specifies the ddname for input file.
  • TOOLIN DD * - Specifies the ICETOOL statements for DFSORT.
  • TOOLMSG - Specifies where to write the ICETOOL processing messages.
  • DFSMSG - Specifies where to write the DFSORT processing messages.
  • UNIQUE FROM(INDD) ON(60,2,CH) - Prints the number of unique value counts in TOOLMSG based on the selection criteria field from the 60th position of length 2.