Easytrieve GT Operator

GT in Conditional Expressions

GT appears in IF, ELSE-IF, DO WHILE, and nested conditions. IF AMOUNT GT 1000 selects large transactions. IF DATE GT CUTOFF processes post-change records. IF SCORE GT PASS-LEVEL identifies passing examinees when cutoff is strict above pass level—verify policy. True when left exceeds right; false when equal or less.

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JOB INPUT PERSNL
  IF GROSS GT 0
     PRINT PAY-RPT
  END-IF
 
  IF OT-HOURS GT 0
     PRINT OVERTIME-RPT
  END-IF

GT Versus Symbolic >

Strict GT Versus Inclusive GE

Overtime contracts stating over forty hours map to GT 40. Contracts stating forty hours and above map to GE 40—exactly forty must pass. Senior benefits at sixty-five and older use GE 65, not GT 65. Off-by-one errors from choosing GT when GE matches policy language are common audit findings. Write the business rule in comments when boundary semantics affect pay or compliance.

Numeric GT

IF GROSS GT 50000 selects high earners above fifty thousand at field scale. IF BALANCE GT CREDIT-LIMIT flags over-limit accounts. IF RATE GT MAX-RATE triggers compliance review. Negative numbers: IF LOSS GT -100 is true for -50 because -50 exceeds -100 on the number line. Compare packed fields at implied decimal—display edited pictures may differ from stored compare values.

Alphabetic GT

IF CODE GT M selects codes collating after M in EBCDIC. IF NAME GT JONES approximates directory ranges—not always intuitive English alphabet order. Trailing spaces affect ordering—padded names compare as longer strings. Use GT for open-ended upper splits when lower bound is handled separately with GE or EQ THRU.

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JOB INPUT SALES
  IF REVENUE GT QUOTA
     PRINT STAR-PERFORMER
  END-IF
 
  IF DISCOUNT-PCT GT MAX-ALLOWED
     PRINT PRICING-EXCEPTION
  END-IF

Field-to-Field GT

IF ACTUAL GT BUDGET flags overspend. IF CURR-BAL GT PRIOR-BAL detects balance increases. IF EXP-DATE GT TODAY finds future expirations when date formats align. Type mismatch between numeric and alphabetic operands causes compile errors or false results—define working fields explicitly.

GT With THRU and Banded Logic

IF AGE GE 18 AND AGE LT 65 defines a working-age window—GT alone does not cap upper bound. IF SCORE GT 59 AND SCORE LT 90 defines a mid band excluding exact endpoints if strict on both sides. EQ THRU closed intervals differ from GT open lower bound—choose based on whether boundary values belong in the set.

GT in Logical Expressions

IF AMT GT 1000 AND REGION EQ E combines threshold with code filter. IF NOT AMT GT 100 expresses at-most-one-hundred—prefer LE 100. IF OUTLIER GT HIGH OR OUTLIER LT LOW catches both tails. Parentheses clarify mixed AND OR with GT.

GT in Report Filtering

Primary use is JOB logic before PRINT. IF GROSS GT 0 PRINT is the classic positive-pay filter. Exception reports combine GT with EQ NE: IF VARIANCE GT TOLERANCE AND STATUS EQ A. REPORT PROC relational use depends on release—confirm grammar outside JOB before coding GT in report-only contexts.

Testing GT Logic

1. Test one below, at, and one above boundary values.
2. Verify IF GROSS GT 0 excludes zero and negative pay.
3. Compare GT versus GE at exact overtime hour boundary.
4. Test field-to-field GT with known larger and smaller pairs.
5. Validate negative number GT behavior on number line.

Common GT Mistakes

• Using GT when policy means at least—should be GE.
• Inverting GT and LT in limit checks.
• IF GROSS GT 0 when zero-pay rows should appear on separate report—logic error.
• Comparing incompatible date formats.
• Mixing GT and > without team convention.
• Assuming GT ignores trailing spaces on alphabetic fields.

Explain It Like I'm Five

GT means bigger than. If the sign says you must be taller than this line to ride, being exactly as tall as the line is not enough—you need to be above it. GT is the word for that strict bigger check. On the number line, five is GT three. Forty-one hours is GT forty, but exactly forty hours is not GT forty—that needs GE if forty counts too.

Exercises

1. Write IF GROSS GT 0 PRINT using GT keyword only.
2. Explain GT versus GE for overtime at exactly forty hours.
3. Write IF REVENUE GT QUOTA star-performer filter.
4. Combine GT lower and LT upper for a score band IF.
5. Describe negative IF LOSS GT -100 behavior with example values.