The IGNORE option can be used in a READ statement for any SEQUENTIAL INPUT or SEQUENTIAL UPDATE file.
The expression in the IGNORE option is evaluated and converted to an integer value n. If n is greater than zero, n records are ignored. A subsequent READ statement for the file will access the (n+1)th record. If n is less than 1, the READ statement has no effect.
The following example specifies that the next three records in the file are to be ignored:
read file (In) ignore (3);