On Linux and UNIX, text data records are delimited by the single record terminator character LF (X'0A'). On Windows, text data records are delimited by the CR/LF (X'0D0A') two-character sequence. Typically, text files do not contain integers that might conflict with the terminator X'0A' characters. Instead, they usually contain data in display format that you can view by using a text editor such as notepad or vi.

For text files, select the

Default

record format. Also select this format when field boundaries are identified by using delimiters (for example, commas in CSV files). When text files are transferred by using FTP, typically the ASCII option is used, which is the default.

If a file contains binary data such as integer, packed decimal, or float, then select

Fixed

or

Variable

as the record format so that the system can determine record boundaries without the boundaries being affected by the data within each record. When the file is transferred by using FTP, the BINARY option must be used.