# read work file Documentation

**URL:** <https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/read-work-file-documentation/92725>\
**Category:** Forum\
**Tags:** Adabas-Natural, Natural, Natural-on-Mainframes\
**Created:** [February 11, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/read-work-file-documentation/92725 "2010-02-11T14:08:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![anik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@anik](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/anik)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/read-work-file-documentation/92725/1 "2010-02-11T14:08:45Z")

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Hello

in the" NATURAL HELP UTILITY" in the editor, the screen for work file help is…  
READ WORK FILE WORK-FILE-NUMBER ONCE

```
RECORD OPERAND1                         
AND SELECT OFFSET N OPERAND2 ... 
           FILLER NX ...               
                                        
GIVING LENGTH OPERAND3                  
                                        
AT END OF FILE                          
   STATEMENT ...                        
END-ENDFILE                             
STATEMENT...                            

```

END-WORK

its Confusing because if you specify “once” you dont need the “end-work”  
furthermore in the Documentation - [http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/documentation/natural/nat426mf/sm/readwork.htm](http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/documentation/natural/nat426mf/sm/readwork.htm)

shouldn’t the - END-WORK be in Brackets? for the same reason

Thanks

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**Author:** ![Matthias1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@Matthias1](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Matthias1)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/read-work-file-documentation/92725/2 "2010-02-17T15:11:22Z")

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> [@anik](#):
>
> shouldn’t the - END-WORK be in Brackets? for the same reason

IMHO: Should be.

But your linked documentation also reads:

> [@](#):
>
> ONCE Option:  
> ONCE is used to indicate that only one record is to be read. No processing loop is initiated (and therefore the loop-closing keyword END-WORK or LOOP must not be specified). If ONCE is specified, the AT END OF FILE clause should also be used.
> 
> If a READ WORK FILE statement specified with the ONCE option is controlled by a user-initiated processing loop, an end-of-file condition may be detected on the work file before the loop ends. All fields read from the work file still contain the values from the last record read. The work file is then repositioned to the first record which will be read upon the next execution of READ WORK FILE ONCE.

… so, everything is documented. 😉

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/read-work-file-documentation/92725/3 "2021-04-02T14:58:01Z")

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