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

       /CHECK_SEQUENCE
       Verifies the sequence of the records only in Merge input
       files. By default Merge checks the sequence of the records.
       Use only with the MERGE command.

       /COLLATING_SEQUENCE
       Selects one of three predefined collating sequences for
       character key fields, or specifies the name of a National
       character set (NCS) collating sequence to be used in comparing
       character keys. Sort arranges characters in ASCII sequence by
       default; the EBCDIC and Multinational sequences can also be
       used.

       High-performance Sort/Merge: The high-performance Sort/Merge
       utility currently supports all collating sequences except NCS.

       /DUPLICATES
       By default, Sort retains multiple records with duplicate keys.
       The /NODUPLICATES qualifier eliminates all but one of multiple
       records with duplicate keys.

       /KEY
       Describes key fields, including the position, size, sorting
       order, and data type.

       /PROCESS
       Defines the internal sorting process. The /PROCESS qualifier
       allows you to choose one of four processes: record, tag,
       address, or index. By default, SORT uses a record sorting
       process. Use only with the SORT command.

       High-performance Sort/Merge: The high-performance Sort/Merge
       utility currently supports only the record process.

       /SPECIFICATION
       Identifies a Sort or Merge specification file.

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

       /STABLE
       Directs records with equal keys to the output file in their
       input file order. The default condition is /NOSTABLE.

       /STATISTICS
       Displays a statistical summary that can be used for
       optimization.

       High-performance Sort/Merge: The high-performance Sort/Merge
       utility supports the display of some statistics, but not all
       of them. See the full description for information.

       /WORK_FILES
       Increases the number of Sort work files by any number from
       1 to 10 inclusively to make each work file smaller. If the
       available disks are too small or too full for work files,
       increasing the number of files can improve the efficiency of
       the sort operation. Use only with the SORT command.

       High-performance Sort/Merge: The high-performance Sort/Merge
       utility supports from 1 to 255 work files.