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Section 23
SIR$–Symbolic Input/Output Routine
The Symbolic Input/Output Routine (SIR$) performs input, output, and updating on
system data format (SDF) files. Processors call SIR$ to read symbolic input from
• A runstream
• A symbolic element in a program file
• An SDF file
SIR$ can update the symbolic input from an element or file with input from the
runstream.
After reading symbolic input and possibly updating it, the SIR$ routine can write
symbolic output to
• A symbolic element in a program file
• An SDF file
The general capabilities of SIR$ are described in this subsection. The entry points and
functions of SIR$ are described in 23.2.
When reading symbolic input, SIR$ automatically merges correction images and
produces an updated symbolic element that is inserted into a program file. The symbolic
element that contains the symbolic input may be cycled by specifying the desired cycle
in the processor call statement. SIR$ automatically passes to the processor only those
images that pertain to the cycle requested.
Symbolic images can be in any of the coded character sets (CCS) listed in Appendix H.
SIR$ normally handles images in the following CCSs:
• Fieldata images.
• ASCII images. Identified as ASCII_ISO, octal code 01, in Table H–1.
• ASCII-like images. There are 39 CCSs listed in Table H–1 that are defined as being
ASCII-like, or essentially identical to the ASCII_ISO character set for characters in the
octal range of 0000 through 0177.
SIR$ can optionally be initialized to handle, with some restrictions, images in an
additional 22 CCSs. These 22 CCSs are referred to as “other CCSs” in the remainder of
the SIR$ section. This allows SIR$ to process images in all 63 legal CCSs. Note that
CCS octal 076 is reserved for future use and is currently illegal.
7833 1733–004 23–1