External - Sequential Format(3.1)
A sequential external format specification consists of two parts; the record declaration and the field declarations. The record declaration can contain information about UDR size and how the record type is identified. The field declarations may be grouped into larger structures such as bit_block
 and set
. The syntax of the external format declarations is declared as follows:
external <format_name> [: <record declaration>] { <content declarations> };
The comma separated elements of the record declaration list may be (in any order):
terminated_by( <terminator> )
dynamic_size( <expression> )
static_size( <constant expression> )
identified_by( <conditional expression> )
The content declarations
 can be:
field declarations
bit_block
 declarationsset
 declarationsswitched_set
 declarations
This chapter includes the following sections: