Re: converting string to a numeric

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Chris,

> I need to know how to convert a string to a numeric. The following works
> fine.

While it may seem to work okay for you, there are a number of problems
with it that I'll point out below.

>
> d thedate         s               d
>  d startdate       s              7a
>
>
>   /free
>      thedate = %date(*date);
>
>      startdate = '1' + %subst(%char(thedate):3:2) +
>       %subst(%char(thedate):6:2) + %subst(%char(thedate):9:2);
>   /end-free
>  c                   seton                                        lr

Problems:

a) you're using the job date rather than the system date.  If you sign on
at 11:00pm, do other things, then run this program after midnight, the
date that you get will be wrong.  99% of the time, people don't want to
use *DATE.  You can call %date() without any parameters to get the current
system date.

b) You're hard-coding the century field as '1', which will cause your
program to not work properly for dates earlier than 2000 or later than
2099.  Please don't create another Y2K nightmare!!  It's unnecessary, the
%char() BIF will do it for you if you specify *CYMD

c) All of the %subst() code is not necessary, the %char() bif can do that
for you as well, just add a 0 to the end of the date format, like *CYMD0

d) If you're intending to write a free-format program, please don't switch
back to fixed-format just to set on the LR indicator.  That looks silly!
You can just do *inlr = *on

>      startdate = %ConvertThisSuckerToaNumber('1' +
> %subst(%char(thedate):3:2) +
>       %subst(%char(thedate):6:2) + %subst(%char(thedate):9:2));

Ahh yes, the %ConvertThisSuckerToaNumber() BIF.  I remember it well.

In V5R2 and later, the %dec() and %int() BIFs can convert to a number.  I
suspect that you're working in V5R1, and that's why you're not using them?

In V5R1, one easy workaround is to call the atoi() function from ILE C.

Here's how I'd write your program in V5R1:

     H DFTACTGRP(*NO) BNDDIR('QC2LE')

     D atoi            pr            10I 0 extproc('atoi')
     D   string                        *   value options(*string)

     D numdate         s              7P 0

      /free
         numdate = atoi( %char( %date() : *CYMD0 ) );
         *inlr = *on;
      /end-free


In V5R2 I can use %dec() instead:

     D numdate         s              7P 0

      /free
         numdate = %dec( %char( %date() : *CYMD0 ) : 7 : 0 );
         *inlr = *on;
      /end-free

Hope you are learning a lot :)