RE: Convert Alpha to Numeric

Depends on how much you know about the integrity of the alpha field.  If you
are 100% sure that it contains only numeric characters or blanks and the
blanks don't occur in the middle of the numeric characters, and you don't
have to deal with signs, decimal points, or separator characters , you ought
to be able to do it with a data structure.

If you have to consider any of the conditions mentioned above, you'll have
to write code to handle them and parse the alpha field.

If you are sure that none of the character fields contain a whole number of
more than 7 digits (largest you can get in a 10,3), you might look into
using the C atol() function which can handle signed numbers up to 2^31 - 1.
You have to use the binding directory QC2LE on the binding step.  This won't
give you the kind of error handling you can put into custom code.

Here's a sample program that has a prototype for the function that you
should be able to compile and run in debug to see what happens:

0001.00 D atol            PR            10I 0 ExtProc('atol')            
0002.00 D charnump                        *   Value Options(*String)
     
0003.00 D charnum         s              7    inz('-12345 ')             
0004.00 D charnu2         s              7    inz('asdfx- ')             
0005.00 D charnu3         s              7    inz('123 45 ')             
0006.00 D longint         s             10i 0                            
0007.00 D sixzone         s              6s 0                            
0008.00 D                                                                
0009.00 C                   eval      longint = atol(charnum)            
0010.00 C                   eval      sixzone = atol(charnum)            
0011.00 C                   eval      longint = atol(charnu2)            
0012.00 C                   eval      longint = atol(charnu3)            
0013.00 C                   eval      *inlr = *on

-----Original Message-----
From: Baltus, Kevin [mailto:KBaltus@automaticproducts.com]
Sent: Friday, April 14, 2000 2:01 PM
To: 'RPG400-L@midrange.com'
Subject: Convert Alpha to Numeric


Hello.  I may be asking a basic question but what is the best way to convert
an alpha field into a numeric?  In my situation I have a 20-Alpha where the
values are whole numbers.  I need to get that whole number into a 10.3
field.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks! 
-------------------------------------------------------- 
Kevin Baltus - Programmer/Analyst 
(651) 290-6179   kbaltus@automaticproducts.com 
Gross-Given Mfg/Automatic Products International 
http://www.automaticproducts.com 
Blatant Band Plug 
http://www.twitch.org 
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