text: **7.4.1 Understanding the input data**
  
  On every platform except z/OS, the**FILEFORMAT**parameter is used to describe the format of 
  the input data. Before setting the**FILEFORMAT**parameter, it is important to understand the 
  difference between the carriage control and the delimiter: 
  
  (cid:2) The delimiter separates the records. The most common delimiters are x'0A' and x'0D0A'. 
  
  (cid:2) The carriage control, if it exists, is the first byte of each record. The carriage control follows 
  the delimiter, except at the beginning of the file, where the carriage control is the first byte. 
  (Therefore, to search in a hexadecimal editor for the beginning of the next page of a file 
  that uses x'0A' as the delimiter, search for x'0AF1' or x'0A31'.) 
  
  **FILEFORMAT parameter**
  For AFP data, the**FILEFORMAT**parameter is not needed, unless the file is AFP in record 
  format. For a description of record format, see “AFP Structured Fields” on page 176. 
  
  The**FILEFORMAT**parameter has the following values: 
  
  (cid:2) record,n: 
  
  – For example: FILEFORMAT=record,100. 
  
  – Fixed-length line data. 
  
  – This type of file has no delimiter. 
  
  (cid:2) stream: 
  
  – For example: fileformat = stream,(newline=X'0A') or (newline=X'0D0A'). 
  
  – For variable record files that are created on UNIX platforms. 
  
  – Specify the delimiter in the**FILEFORMAT**parameter. 
  
  (cid:2) record: 
  
  – For example: FILEFORMAT=record. 
  
  – Each record has a 2-byte prefix, which contains the length of the record. This length is 
  exclusive, which means that it does not include the length of the 2-byte prefix itself. A 
  download for z/OS adds this prefix when it downloads files. 
  
  – This type of file has no delimiter. 