RE: Any way in the CL program to find the length of the character datastored in a variable?

[Vernon Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

You're right, I see. And QCLSCAN does not have the ability to scan from the 
right.

But I found something that works directly from CL in V5R3 and above - the 
MI function TRIML (Trim Length). Here is a sample that shows how it works. 
Member type must be CLLE--

  PGM        PARM(&TESTSTRING)

  DCL        VAR(&TESTSTRING) +
               TYPE(*CHAR) +
               LEN(50)
  DCL        VAR(&STRING) +
               TYPE(*CHAR) +
               LEN(51)
  DCL        VAR(&TRIMCHAR) +
               TYPE(*CHAR) +
               LEN(1) +
               VALUE(' ')
  DCL        VAR(&TRIMLEN) +
               TYPE(*INT) +
               LEN(4)
  DCL        VAR(&NULL) +
               TYPE(*CHAR) +
               LEN(1) +
               VALUE(x'00')
  DCL        VAR(&TRIMLENC) +
               TYPE(*CHAR) +
               LEN(10)

  CHGVAR     VAR(&STRING) +
               VALUE((&TESTSTRING *cat &NULL))
  CALLPRC    PRC('triml') +
               PARM(&STRING (&TRIMCHAR *BYVAL)) +
               RTNVAL(&TRIMLEN)
  CHGVAR     VAR(&TRIMLENC) +
               VALUE(&TRIMLEN)
  SNDPGMMSG  MSG('Trimmed length of "' *CAT &TESTSTRING *CAT '" is' *BCAT 
&TRIMLENC)

  ENDPGM

The 'triml' function needs a null-terminated string as input (append it to 
incoming parameter here), the second parameter has to be passed by value, 
so earlier versions cannot use this - create a command that uses RPGLE and 
returns the length.

You will need to bind to a system service program, so create the module 
first - assume the member name is YOURLIB/TESTTRIML. Then

CRTPGM PGM(YOURLIB/TESTTRIML) BNDSRVPGM(QC2UTIL1)

to create the program.

(NOTE: Use any suitable debug or activation group parameters you want.)

It MIGHT be possible to restore this to a V5R2 machine, if correctly saved. 
i did not have success, however, in my short test. It DID compile and save 
to V5R2, however.

In my test

call vern/testtriml 'This is a string'

resulted in the message

Trimmed length of "This is a string                                  " is 
0000000016

Of course, you could always build a command around the BIFs of RPGLE.   ;-)

HTH
Vern

At 09:05 AM 3/6/2005, you wrote:
> Isn't the problem with QCLSCAN that you cannot test for a multiple word
> variable?  When you see the first blank the scan stops and the result is
> invalid.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Vernon Hamberg
> Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 1:19 AM
> To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> Subject: Re: Any way in the CL program to find the length of the
> character datastored in a variable?
>
>
> This is interesting - which really is the bigger hit on performance. I
> think it depends. Using %SST in a loop  could very likely take more time
> than a single call to a program that uses a more efficient loop - probably
> in some way that uses pointers and doesn't need to resolve the %SST for
> each test character. I can see that a 256-character variable that has only
> the 1st 3 characters filled would take longer with %SST than with a call to
> QCLSCAN. But it probably does not matter too much, unless this is repeated
> over several hundreds of thousands of records or values, say.
>
> Still, it would be an interesting test. Maybe I'll try it when I have some
> time.
>
> Vern
>
> At 10:43 AM 3/5/2005, you wrote:
> >Here's the V5R2 link:
> >
> >http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/index.htm?info/apis/qclsc
> a
> >n.htm
> >
> >But I would use a substring method myself - no reason to call another
> >program and take the performance hit when you can do it in a loop with
> %SST.
> >
> >
> > >            Siva
> > >            <matchrefree@yaho
> > >            o.com>                                                     To
> > >            Sent by:                  Midrange Systems Technical
> > >            midrange-l-bounce         Discussion
> > >            s@xxxxxxxxxxxx            <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > >                                                                       cc
> > >
> > >            03/04/2005 11:26                                      Subject
> > >            PM                        RE: Any way in the CL program to
> > >                                      find the length of the character
> > >                                      datastored in a variable?
> > >            Please respond to
> > >            Midrange Systems
> > >                Technical
> > >               Discussion
> > >            <midrange-l@midra
> > >                nge.com>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks Doug....
> > > Is it an API?... Wats the Parm list for this...  Coudnt get any in my
> > > manuals...
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Siva.
> > >
> > >
> > > Doug Hart <DougHart@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > QCLSCAN
> > >
> > >
> > > ---
> > > Doug Hart
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Siva
> > > Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 11:02 PM
> > > To: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > Subject: Any way in the CL program to find the length of the character
> > > datastored in a variable?
> > >
> > >
> > > Is there any way in the CL program to find the length of the character
> data
> > > stored in a variable?
> > >
> > > I find there is no direct CL command to acheive this... may be some
> > > roundabout way there to do this... but nothing striking at this
> moment....
> > >
> > > i think of some prgm calls with the required variable as the parm and
> the
> > > receiviong prgm process the variable etc... but couldnt get any logic
> here
> > > :-)......
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Siva.
> >
> >--
> >This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
> >To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
> >visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
> >or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
> >at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
>
> --
> This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
> To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
> or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
> at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
>
> --
> This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
> To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
> or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
> at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.