Problem:

Crreating line sequential files with escape sequences, and they are not working as expected  because Net Express inserts null values.

Resolution:

To eliminate nulls being placed in line sequential files:

Either create a text file called  extfh.cfg  with the following entries

[XFH-DEFAULT]

INSERTNULL=OFF

then set environment variable extfh=x:\\directoryname\\extfh.cfg

or

set environment variable cobsw=-N   which turns off null insertion