• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Hex Dump of an IFS File

    October 18, 2002 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    Hey, Ted:

    How can I get a hexadecimal dump of an IFS file?

    — Charles

    Use the od utility, which runs under Qshell. Use the t option to tell od which format(s) you want to see. Here’s a list of all the formats you can request.

    • a, c character
    • d signed decimal
    • f floating point
    • o octal
    • u unsigned decimal
    • x hexadecimal

    To display a file in hexadecimal, follow the t option with an x.

    I can illustrate with a simple text file, which I’ll call err.log. The CCSID attribute is 37, which means the data is stored in EBCDIC.

    You can use the cat command to see the contents of the file in character format. (The Qshell commands I typed are in boldface. The response from Qshell is in italics.)

    cat err.log
    ls: 001-2113 Error found getting information for object zz*. 
    cat: 001-0023 Error found opening file out.log.
    

    Per your request, here’s the file in hex.

    od -t x err.log
    0000000  93a27a40 f0f0f160 f2f1f1f3 40c59999 
    0000020  96994086 96a49584 408785a3 a3899587 
    0000040  40899586 96999481 a3899695 40869699 
    0000060  40968291 8583a340 a9a95c4b 258381a3 
    0000100  7a40f0f0 f160f0f0 f2f340c5 99999699 
    0000120  408696a4 95844096 97859589 95874086 
    0000140  89938540 96a4a34b 9396874b 25000000 
    0000155
    

    You might find it helpful to view the file in both character and hex at once.

    od -t cx err.log
    0000000    l   s   :       0   0   1   -   2   1   1   3       E   r   r 
             93a27a40 f0f0f160 f2f1f1f3 40c59999                             
    0000020    o   r       f   o   u   n   d       g   e   t   t   i   n   g 
             96994086 96a49584 408785a3 a3899587                             
    0000040        i   n   f   o   r   m   a   t   i   o   n       f   o   r 
             40899586 96999481 a3899695 40869699                             
    0000060        o   b   j   e   c   t       z   z   *   . 045   c   a   t 
             40968291 8583a340 a9a95c4b 258381a3                             
    0000100    :       0   0   1   -   0   0   2   3       E   r   r   o   r 
             7a40f0f0 f160f0f0 f2f340c5 99999699                             
    0000120        f   o   u   n   d       o   p   e   n   i   n   g       f 
             408696a4 95844096 97859589 95874086                             
    0000140    i   l   e       o   u   t   .   l   o   g   . 045             
             89938540 96a4a34b 9396874b 25000000                             
    0000155 
    

    Notice the two instances of 045 in the character output. These are octal numbers that represent the line feed character, which Qshell uses by default as an end-of-line marker. The hexadecimal equivalent, with which you may be familiar, is X’25’. Think about it: four eights plus five is the same as two sixteens plus five.

    Od dumps the data as it is, so CCSID matters. Suppose err.log had a CCSID of 819. Here’s how the hex dump would look.

    od -t x err.log                     
    0000000  6c733a20 3030312d 32313133 20457272 
    0000020  6f722066 6f756e64 20676574 74696e67 
    0000040  20696e66 6f726d61 74696f6e 20666f72 
    0000060  206f626a 65637420 7a7a2a2e 0a636174 
    0000100  3a203030 312d3030 32332045 72726f72 
    0000120  20666f75 6e64206f 70656e69 6e672066 
    0000140  696c6520 6f75742e 6c6f672e 0a000000 
    0000155
    

    If the data is not stored in EBCDIC format, using the c option with od will give you a lot of octal numbers, not readable characters.

    — Ted

    Sponsored By
    WORKSRIGHT SOFTWARE

    CASS Certification

    What is it? Why do you need it?

    CASS stands for “Coding Accuracy Support System.” This is a test developed by the U.S. Postal Service to determine whether ZIP Code software can accurately assign ZIP Codes to mailing addresses. CASS-certified software is intended to improve the accuracy of carrier route, 5-digit ZIP, ZIP+4, and delivery point codes.

    CASS certified means the software has passed the test. When you use CASS software to update and maintain your mailing file, then your mailing file becomes CASS certified. What does this mean to you?

    CASS certification is the first step in qualifying for postage discounts. Look at the mail you receive at home and at work; you will see that a lot of it was mailed for less than the regular 37 cent rate.

    Despite all the glitz and glamour of the Internet, email, and such, the wheels of America’s economy are lubricated by the ordinary envelope and the U.S. Postal Service.

    If your company sends out a lot of mail, there is a good chance CASS certification can cut your postage expense. There are other steps you must perform to get these discounts, but CASS is the first step.

    Your mail must be printed, sorted, and then packaged according to postal regulations. It takes some effort, but the potential savings make it worthwhile.

    Exactly what happens when you process your mailing files with CASS software? The software breaks the address down into its individual elements: state, city, street name, and so forth. Then the information is compared to the national ZIP+4 database. If a match is found, the ZIP Code, ZIP+4, delivery point, and carrier route are assigned. Also the delivery line is standardized to comply with Postal Service preferences.

    If an address can’t be matched, no action is taken. This has the positive effect of allowing you to identify addresses in your mailing files which possibly can’t be delivered, will be delayed in delivery, or at the very minimum need some minor correction to one of the address elements.

    Using CASS certified software has many side benefits. You will be able to identify addresses that are potentially undeliverable. It has been estimated that as much as 30% of all advertising mail is never delivered.

    That means the costs of postage, printing, paper, and overhead for undelivered mail are wasted. That means if you spend $100,000 on a direct mail campaign, as much as $30,000 could be completely wasted.

    CASS software provides a number of intangible benefits. With CASS certification and bar coding there is a good likelihood that that your mail will be delivered sooner. If your invoices are delivered one day sooner, you may receive payment one day sooner.

    If you CASS certify your mailing file, you can move on to the next step which is postal automation. This means applying a POSTNET bar code.

    POSTNET is that little row of tall and short bars you see on your mail. POSTNET is a special bar code used by the Postal Service to allow automatic sorting machines to work.

    It has been reported that bar code standard class (the old third class) mail gets delivered about as soon as first class, instead of the usual 2 or 3 weeks.

    The bottom line is that using CASS software will help you keep your customers’ address information in much better shape than they would be otherwise. Your mail may be delivered sooner at less cost and that means more bottom-line dollars for your company.

    If you would like more information about CASS and CASS software,
    contact your local post office or
    call WorksRight Software, Inc., at 601-856-8337.

    Are FedEx, United Parcel, and Airborne charges
    for incorrect addresses eating into your budget?

    Every bad address can result in a $5 to $10 charge. Even seemingly small addressing errors such as misspelled street names, or missing suite numbers can result in the same penalty as if the address were totally wrong.

    Our PER/ZIP4 addressing matching software will match your addresses to the national ZIP+4 postal database. Based on the match PER/ZIP4, will update your addresses to postal standards. Our sophisticated address logic can add missing directionals, correct minor misspellings, and standardize the address format. If PER/ZIP4 can’t match the address, then you know that there is likely a serious error in the address that needs to be corrected.

    PER/ZIP4 can be used in a batch mode to update an entire file or interactively to update individual address one at a time. We provide a search function so that you can search the national ZIP+4 database to verify a specific address.

    Visit our Web site www.worksright.com for more information and to order a free, no-hassle, 30-day trial. Or call WorksRight Software, Inc., at 601-856-8337.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mgo_rc, Volume 2, Number 80 -- October 18, 2002

    Sponsored by
    Midrange Dynamics North America

    Git up to speed with MDChange!

    Git can be lightning-fast when dealing with just a few hundred items in a repository. But when dealing with tens of thousands of items, transaction wait times can take minutes.

    MDChange offers an elegant solution that enables you to work efficiently any size Git repository while making your Git experience seamless and highly responsive.

    Learn more.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Extending the Network Reader Feedback and Insights: Extending the Network

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

MGO Volume: 2 Issue: 80

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • Reader Feedback and Insights: Another Compression Utility
    • Reading Spool Files in RPG
    • Hex Dump of an IFS File

    Content archive

    • The Four Hundred
    • Four Hundred Stuff
    • Four Hundred Guru

    Recent Posts

    • Public Preview For Watson Code Assistant for i Available Soon
    • COMMON Youth Movement Continues at POWERUp 2025
    • IBM Preserves Memory Investments Across Power10 And Power11
    • Eradani Uses AI For New EDI And API Service
    • Picking Apart IBM’s $150 Billion In US Manufacturing And R&D
    • FAX/400 And CICS For i Are Dead. What Will IBM Kill Next?
    • Fresche Overhauls X-Analysis With Web UI, AI Smarts
    • Is It Time To Add The Rust Programming Language To IBM i?
    • Is IBM Going To Raise Prices On Power10 Expert Care?
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 20

    Subscribe

    To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Pages

    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Contributors
    • Four Hundred Monitor
    • IBM i PTF Guide
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe

    Search

    Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle