length

Type: Integer

The length property of the SortActor class contains the length from the start position of the field or record in a file that is to be compared.

In fixed‑length files, any carriage return (CR) or line feed (LF) character is included in the length of the field or record. When sorting fixed‑length records, the entire length of the file must be divisible by the record size (that is, the value contained in the File class recordSize property), with no remainder.

The default values for the length property are listed in the following table.

Variable Records,

Variable Fields

Variable Records,

Fixed Fields

Fixed Records,

Variable Fields

Fixed Records,

Fixed Fields
To end of field To end of record To end of field To end of record

When sorting fixed‑length records, the entire length of the file must be divisible by the value contained in the File class recordSize property, with no remainder.