Re: Converting from packed to character in Query/400

Peter Coffin wrote:

> Carol writes:
>
> > I found that I could convert the data to a character string in the
> Query
> > which runs before the C program, by using the DIGITS function.  This
> is
> > good, except that the DIGITS function does not retain the sign of
> the
> > number. (!)  I have figured out a kludgey way of handling this, but
> I
> > still wonder: Am I missing something obvious, or is there no easy
> way to
> > do this?
>
> I'm probably poking at the obvious, but is the DIGITS field big enough
> to hold
> the sign? I've been bitten several times by thinking that a 5-place
> numeric
> field only needed 5 (not six or seven) places for an *CHAR version of
> the same
> value.
>

Following is from the SQL reference on the DIGITS function

3.2.25 DIGITS

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

¦
¦
¦ >--DIGITS--(--expression--)------------------------------------------>
¦
¦
¦
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The DIGITS function returns a character-string representation of the
absolute value of a number.

The argument must be an integer or decimal value.

If the argument can be null, the result can be null; if the argument is
null, the result is the null value.

The result of the function is a fixed-length character string
representing the absolute value of the argument without
regard to its scale.  The result does not include a sign or a decimal
point.  Instead, it consists exclusively of digits,
including, if necessary, leading zeros to fill out the string.  The
length of the string is:

   5, if the argument is a small zero scale integer
   10, if the argument is a large zero scale integer
   p, if the argument is a decimal or nonzero scale integer with a
precision of p

The CCSID of the character string is the default SBCS CCSID at the
current server.

As you see, sign never enters into consideration for the digits
function.

--
Thank You.

Regards

Dave Mahadevan.. mailto:mahadevan@fuse.net


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