VMS Help MERGE, /SPECIFICATION, Full Description  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    The /SPECIFICATION qualifier identifies the specification file to
    be used in a sort or merge operation. A specification file allows
    you to do the following:

    o  Change the format and length of the records in the output file

    o  Conditionally alter record order and data fields

    o  Omit specified records from the process

    o  Include specified records in the process

    o  Change the way in which characters are ordered

    o  Reassign work files

    o  Define commonly used sort or merge operations

    High-performance Sort/Merge: The high-performance Sort/Merge
    utility does not currently support the use of specification
    files.

    Specification files may be created by any standard editor or the
    DCL CREATE command. The commands within a specification file are
    formatted differently than those on the DCL command line and some
    have different meanings.

    Each command in the specification file should start with a
    slash(/) and continutation characters are not required if a
    command spans more than one line. Comments may be included in
    a specification file by preceding them with an exclamation point
    (!).

    Many of the qualifiers used in the specification file are similar
    to the DCL qualifiers used in the Sort/Merge command line. Note,
    however, that the format of these qualifiers can be different.
    For example, the /KEY qualifier at DCL level has a different
    format than the /KEY qualifier in the specification file.