When the program has given SORT an output file—as opposed to an output procedure—SORT closes and purges the output file and restarts the output from the first output record. If the output file is a disk file and insufficient space was allocated to contain the data, SORT either sets the FLEXIBLE attribute before restarting the output or, if setting the FLEXIBLE attribute is not possible, terminates with SORT ERROR #8. Output error recovery is not dependent on program request for error recovery.