Re: %str() use discouraged?

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Justin,

Your code is absolutely right.  getenv() returns a pointer to a 
null-terminated string, and %str() converts that to an RPG VARCHAR.

Francois' code doesn't make any sense and won't compile.  The first 
parameter to %STR() needs to be a pointer, not a string literal.  Plus, 
getenv() returns a pointer, but %STR() returns a string -- you can't 
compare a pointer to a string in RPG.

I do have a suggestion for you, though...   getenv() will return *NULL 
if the variable isn't found, and %STR() will have a problem with that 
*NULL value.  So unless you're certain that 'ENV_VAR' will always be 
found, you should write your code like this:

   dcl-s varp pointer;

   varp = getenv('ENV_VAR');
   if varp<>*null and %str(varp) = 'Literal value here';

That way, there won't be any error if the variable isn't found.   Or, if 
you prefer the coding style you've shown us, you could put that style in 
a monitor block.

-SK

On 4/23/2020 12:10 PM, Justin Taylor wrote:
> My code works, so maybe my assumption about getenv() returning a null-terminated string was wrong.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Francois Lavoie [mailto:Francois.Lavoie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2020 8:34 AM
> To: RPG programming on IBM i <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: RE: %str() use discouraged?
>
> If getenv returns a null-terminated string then the statement should be:
>
> If getenv('ENV_VAR') = %str('Literal value here');
>
> But you would had figured that out