Re: %CHAR()

I can understand why it would be desirable not to have leading 
zeros.  Most PC applications do not use the leading zeros.  Such
as dBase files, if I remember correctly.  They would store the number
123 as '   123' or '123    ' (don't remember which).

When I show my users numbers, I don't want to show them leading
zeros either.  I would much rather show them '   123' than '000123'.

The only reason to keep the leading zeros in, then, is for certain
applications, in which case, just use the XLATE.

I don't think this is a matter of taking anything out, this is a 
new command.  New commands usually do something differently.

I think it's a lot easier to change spaces to zeros then to change
zeros to spaces.  

' ':'0'    XLATE    MyVar   MyVar

works fine to put zeros in to a string such as '  1030.28 ' and makes
it '001030.280'

'0':' '    XLATE    MyVAr   MyVar

does not work on the string '001030.28 ' as it produces '  1 3 .28 ' which
is obviously not what I want.

Regards,

Jim Langston

"Westdorp, Tom" wrote:
> 
> This seems *VERY counter-intuitive to me.  If I just want a number literally
> converted to character I use %editc and tell it not to edit (which would
> then just be c), but if I want it zero suppressed (aka edited) and converted
> to character I use %char???  And the main bif for a straight conversion is
> not %char but rather %editc with an edit code specified to do nothing???
> Now I understand why this isn't in the manuals, because when you write it
> down it just doesn't make sense.  ;-)
> 
> I now understand how this works, but as to why <scratch head>
> 
> btw, Thanks Barbara.  I don't want to have this construed as 'getting on
> your case' or anything, I appreciate your explanation and guidance in this
> matter and others.  This one seems bass ackwards to me, but I'll get over
> it.  There's a lot of stuff in life that doesn't make sense to me... e.g.
> Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta Jones.  But that's off topic.
> 
> Tom Westdorp
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bmorris@ca.ibm.com [mailto:bmorris@ca.ibm.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 8:58 AM
> To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
> Subject: RE: %CHAR()
> 
> >Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 14:28:42 -0800
> >From: "Westdorp, Tom" <tom.westdorp@stationcasinos.com>
> >
> > ...
> >I will try the edit code to return the zeroes, but I didn't ask for them
> to
> >go away. :-) It seems to me that %trim(%char(fieldx)) is right and just
> >%char(fieldx) to the same result is wrong.  I'd argue that it's APARable,
> >but I'm just one guy and others' opinions may differ.
> > ...
> 
> Tom, %char(num) isn't intended to be the main "convert numeric to
> character" bif, it's just intended as a convenience, to make it easy
> to convert numeric to character for "casual" conversions.  It's basically
> the same as %trim(%editc(num : 'P')).
> 
> %char can only do one thing.  For that one thing we tried to pick the end
> result of what's most usually wanted.  The only "customization" available
> is the module-wide decision about whether the decimal point is a period
> or a comma.  %editc and %editw are still the bifs to choose if you want
> customizable conversion from numeric to character.
> 
> Barbara
> 
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