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head command wont work on MF file

 
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# 1  
Old 02-08-2007
Error head command wont work on MF file
I am trying to do a head on a mainframe file and on doing ti just gives me a blank screen with nothing on it.

however, when i do a tail for the same file...i get a few lines on the screen.

i know tht mainframe files have all the records on one line...does this have to do something with this. Also, a grep command also wont work on the file...Is there anyway to get around this issue?

OS is AIX 3
# 2  
Old 02-08-2007
Could you paste first few lines of MF file ?
# 3  
Old 02-09-2007
Code:
$ head filename.dat
?c@     0.00            0         0         0         0     0.00            0         0         0         0?N     0.00            0         0         0         0     0.00            0         0         0         0     0.00            0         0         0         0?     0.00            0         0         0         0     0.00            0         0         0         0     0.00            0         0         0         0     0.00            0         0         0         0
LB00
                                   0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00

Code:
$ tail filename.dat
2007033AP072899980E01                                               18GNCNATP004E01               0    0    0   00000      0.00                           0.00   0       00000      0.00            0         0         0         0                   0.00                0.00                0.00                0.00                0.00                0.00          0                                     0.00                                 0.00
                                   0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00         0.00
2007033AC623699980EA1                                               18GNCNATP001EA1MORELLI        0    0    0      0     0.00
N               0.00   01565781   0     0.00            0         0         0         0
         0.00
         0.00
         0.00
         0.00
             0.00           0.00
         0
            0.00
           0.00             PR                                                          N


I am getting correct output for the tail command but not for the head command!
# 4  
Old 02-09-2007
Your file is apparently not a plain text file, but it contains non printable characters as well.

When trying to display those on the screen, some effect e.g. cursor placemet, others are not shown at all.

This is most likely why you don't get the expected output.
# 5  
Old 02-09-2007
You can do a quick 'file' command on the filename.dat file and it can tell you what type of file it is. Here are a couple of examples off a system I have.

# file file*
file.cfg: commands text
file.lic: c program text File contains 8 bit characters.

# file ping
ping: executable (RISC System/6000) or object module
# 6  
Old 02-09-2007
When I do the file command, below is the output:

Code:
$ file filename.dat
filename.dat: ascii text

So the file is a plain text file and it does not contain any non printable characters. The thing that concerns me is why is the tail command working fine and the head command would not work.

Also a grep command would not work on the file.
# 7  
Old 02-09-2007
Could it be as simple as that what ever program generated the file "filename.dat" just generated an incorrect file?
 
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