SuperCE Compare

SuperCE - Super Compare Extended:

Super Compare Extended abbreviated to SuperCE is a versatile tool that helps us to compare PS datasets, complete PDS, members of PDS or concatenated datasets. The output listings can also be of varied requirements like Delta listings, Long listings and others as per the requirements.

Option 12 in the Utilities Menu is a simple compare utility and option 13 from the Utilities Menu is the extended compare utility. You will discuss the options and features of the extended compare, which will cover the features of the base compare.

Specify Datasets for Compare:

Use the fields New DS Name and Old DS Name in the space provided. Suppose you have modified the member report from a production dataset to change a few fields that are listed.

Now, you have to compare the changed program with the program in production. To do this, specify the fully qualified PDS member with the changed member in the New DS Name and the fully qualified production dataset with the member name in the Old DS Name field as shown below.

If the above fields are left blank, a concatenation panel is shown where you can specify a list of datasets to be compared.

Please note that in case of concatenations of sequential datasets, the block size of the concatenated datasets must be the same and in case of PDS concatenation, the RECFM for all the datasets should be the same.

Compare Types Datasets can be compared in the following four ways:

File Comparison: Checks source datasets and lists the difference. Simplest and fastest method.
Line Comparison: Checks the differences at the line level. The output list contains reformatted lines and changed lines. Most frequently used comparison type and typically used for the source change compares.
Word Comparison: Checks the differences at the word level. A word is a string separated by one or more blanks or a line separator.
Byte Comparison: Byte level comparison with the output in HEX (Like a dump). The Compare output can be listed in the following five ways OVSUM Lists the Overall Summary of the changes. In case of PDS comparison the list contains a summary for each member compared. Delta frequently used Listing type. Lists the differences and the summary of each dataset compared. Differences are flagged at the left of each line of output. CHNG lists the differences with a specified number of lines before and after the changes.
Makes the user comfortable in reading the output in case of a PDS comparison involving source changes. Long Lists the complete new data set with the old data set deleted data Interspersed in the output listing. Both inserted and deleted output data is flagged. The format is the same as the DELTA with all matching data shown. Nolist generates no listing output. Used to quickly find if any data is changed between two datasets.

Listing dataset name: SuperCE places the result of the comparison in the dataset specified in this field. The listing dataset is created if it already does not exist. If the output is a PDS member, the PDS must exist.

Process Options: You can specify keywords to customize the SuperCE compare on datasets. They can be specified by choosing „options‟ from the pull down menu or they can be directly entered in the „process options‟ field. Some examples of available process options are:
- Option name Function: SEQ Ignore FB 80/VB 255 standard sequence number columns NOSEQ Process FB 80/VB 255 standard sequence number columns as data.
  1. DPPLCMT: Do not process /* ... */ comments and blank compare lines.
  2. DPPSCMT: Do not process (* ... *) comments and blank compare lines.
Statements Dsn: This dataset contains the optional process statements for the SuperCE utility. When you select the Edit Statements option from the SuperCE Utility pull-down menu, the SuperCE utility displays the statements data set you specified in the Statements Dsn field. This data set is always displayed in Edit mode, allowing you to add, change, or delete SuperCE process statements as needed. Only one process statement can appear on each line of the statements data set.

Execution Mode: The option selected determines if the comparison is done in the foreground or batch mode. If „foreground‟ is selected, the keyboard will be locked until the comparison is done and the compare output (SUPERC.LIST, by default) will be shown on the screen. If „batch‟ option is chosen, the batch job(JCL) will be submitted to compare datasets. We can also able to edit the JCL before the execution.

Output Mode: If the foreground option is chosen in the execution mode, option chosen here determines the mode of display for the compare output. As discussed before, use browse if the output is to be viewed by multi-users.

Example:

Step 1: Compare

Result: Compare

Interpreting SuperCE output

SuperCE output lines are classified with flagging character(s) that appear under the column labeled ID.

"blank": Matched. These lines are matching lines/data between both data sets. The new data set line is listed without flagging.
"I" : Insert. Added to the new data set, therefore it does not appear in old data set.
"D": Delete. Appears in the old data set but is absent (deleted) from the new data set.
"DR": Delete, Replace. A composed line of bytes denoting the byte(s) that were replaced by byte(s) listed directly above in the preceding insert (I) line. Byte compares listings only.
"RN": Reformat New. A reformatted line appears in the new data set. This line contains the same information as the old data set line with different spacing between the words. Line compares listings only.
"RO": Reformat Old. Flags the same line in the old data set that was reformatted in the new data set. This line can be eliminated from the output listing by specifying the DLREFM Process Option.
"MC": Match Compose. A WORD compare line composed of matching words. Spaces may be left between the words to display the matched words relative to any inserted and/or deleted words.
"IC": Insert Compose. A WORD compare line composed of words from the new data set that are not in the old data set. This line normally follows a Match Compose line.
"DC": Delete Compose. A WORD compare line composed of words from the old data set that are not in the new data set. This line normally follows a Match Compose or Insert Compose line.
"IM": Insert Matching. Only flagged if FMVLNS is specified as a process option.
Flags the occurrence of a line in the new data set which also appears in the old data set, but has been "moved." The line may or may not have been reformatted. Reformatted moved lines are indicated by a flag at the right of the listing.
"DM": Delete Matching. Same as IM except flags old data set lines.

Change-bar indicates that a line has been changed by the insertion or deletion of words. Change Bars only appear in LINE and WORD compare listings that are generated with the GWCBL Process Option.

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