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A-Shell Reference

Random access files are:

•fixed length records containing a mixture of field types
•ISAM and ISAM-A files are special variants of random access files
•files must be pre-allocated; see ALLOCATE, CREATE
•file expansion typically not automatic, except for ISAM, ISAM-A; see MX_EXPFIL
•file and record locking is available; see LOKSER
•records may be "blocked" into 512 byte blocks; see OPEN statement

See File Access Methods for an explanation / etymology of "Random Access".

Subtopics

•ALLOCATE

•FILEBASE

•OPEN

•XOPEN

•READ

•SET'RECNO

•UNLOKR

•WRITE

•XREAD, XWRITE, XUNLOKR