How can we compress char length in PL1?

surendra_mainframe · New User Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5

Hi,

Can anyone convert char(3) into char(2) in PL1 just like Comp3 in Cobol?

Surendra

karthik srinivasan · New User Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 6 Location: chennai

HI Surendra,

I am not sure of compressing technique in PL1 , but for the situtation which u are facing you can declare the variable as

DCL ABC CHAR(2) VARYING

when a variable is declared as varying, the srorage allocation for the variable is 2 + 2 bytes ( in extra).

I hope this helps

Thanks
Karthik Srinivasan

surendra_mainframe · New User Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5

But still when i am doing char(2) = char(3) , result of char(2) variable is truncating the data.

k_vikram07 · New User Joined: 23 Nov 2005 Posts: 34

I don't think we can do this in any language either in Cobol or PL1.

The cobol comp-3 is not for char. it is for numeric.

We do have such a thing for numeric items in Pl1. But not for Char.

You may however raise a condition to stop this truncation if it ever happens.

Thanks
Vik.

nutakkimurali · New User Joined: 15 Nov 2005 Posts: 22

Hi karthi,

Why it allocates 2+2 when u dec the 2 bytes variable with varying option

Please let me know

DCL ABC CHAR(2) VARYING

when a variable is declared as varying, the srorage allocation for the variable is 2 + 2 bytes ( in extra).
Muralee

karthik srinivasan · New User Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 6 Location: chennai

HI Murali...

The two bytes which is being added is for storing the length of the string.
THE LEFT MOST 2 BYTES CONTAIN THE LENGTH OF THE STRING

ie) 2 bytes ( this is for char(2) ) + 2 bytes ( this is for storing the length )

Hope this helps.....

Thanks & Regards
Karthik Srinivasan

nutakkimurali · New User Joined: 15 Nov 2005 Posts: 22

Karthik Thank you for your input

Muralee