Using a regular expression on the TRIGGER parameter

On the TRIGGER parameter use the regular expression instead of a text string. A regular expression can be used on both a group trigger and a floating trigger. The maximum length of the regular expression is 250 bytes.

If an asterisk is specified for the column, ACIF searches the entire record for the string that matches the regular expression. If a column is specified, ACIF searches the text starting in that column for the string that matches the regular expression. The regular expression must match text which begins in that column. If a column range is specified, ACIF searches only the text within the column range for the string that matches the regular expression. The regular expression must match text which begins in one of the columns specified by the column range.

The maximum record length to which the regular expression can be applied is 2K (2048 bytes). If there are records in the file which are longer, use a trigger column range to specify a subset of the record. Once the regular expression matches the text in a record, ACIF looks for the next trigger, or, if all the group triggers have been found, ACIF collects the fields.