Re: Clear entire field vs substring

[Vern Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I believe that a fixed-length field is cleared before being set with 
EVAL - it's not whether it's varying, it's the operation you're using.

OK, my understanding of some of this that might be more than anyone 
wanted to know! This is for EVAL, not EVALR, though things ought to be 
similar.

1. Assign fixed to varying --> result is left-justified and length set 
to size of fixed variable - trailing blanks in fixed value are retained
2. Assign varying to varying --> result is left-justified and length set 
to length (not size) of varying variable (or value, as in result of 
%trim[r])
3. Assign varying to fixed --> result is left-justified and length is 
the size of the fixed variable - really no length to set - variable is 
padded with blanks

This assumes value being assigned is shorter or equal in length to the 
target variable.

OK, enough - that's how I use this stuff all the time - again, I'd 
better be right, eh?

Vern

On 5/21/2012 2:17 PM, Rory Hewitt wrote:
> Albert,
>
> Is workfield a varying field? If so, then you don't need to do either - you
> shoudl simply be able to do this:
>
> workfield = %trimr(NewData);
>
> If workfield is not a varying field, then it really depends on whether/how
> you're keeping track of the lngth of NewData - if you're not holding it
> elsewhere, then you should clear the whole field.
>
> Rory
>
> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 12:09 PM, Albert York<albertyork@xxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
>
> > I have a work field that is 2000 bytes (to allow for the longest possible
> > string value). The length of the data being moved to it varies and can be
> > quite short. I have to clear the work field before I move the data.
> >
> >   Which is better:
> >
> >   workfield = *blanks
> >
> >
> >   len = %len(%trimr(Newdata));
> >   %substr(workfield:1:len) = *blanks;
> >
> >   Thanks,
> >
> >   Albert
> > --
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