Reading from a flat file

[Kimberly Blumenberg <KBLUMEN@SEARS.COM>]

Question:

If I do the following, will this work okay if the $sal_plan_code field can be
either two or three characters? I know that you should
read this way only if you know the exact length of every field. But since it is
the last field in the flat file would this be okay
or not?


while 1=1
   !**************************************
   !Read the flat file and load data.
   !**************************************
   read 10 into $emplid:9 $effdt:8 $action_cd:3 $reason_cd:3 $job_code:6
$sal_plan_code:3
   if #end-file
      break
   end-if

etc...