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

    1.$ ASSIGN DRA5: SORTWORK0
      $ ASSIGN DB0: SORTWORK1
      $ ASSIGN DB1: SORTWORK2
      $ SORT/KEY=(POS:1,SIZ:80)/WORK_FILES=3 -
      _$ STATS1,STATS2,STATS3,STATS4 SUMMARY.LIS

      Because the input files in this sort operation are large files,
      specifying three work files improves the efficiency of the sort
      operation.

      Note that you can also assign the work files to a specific
      directory on a device by including the directory name. For
      example, to assign SORTWORK0 to the [WORKSPACE] directory on
      DRA5, enter the following command:

      $ ASSIGN DRA5:[WORKSPACE] SORTWORK0