dbzTHEdinosauer
Global Moderator
Joined: 20 Oct 2006
Posts: 6966
Location: porcelain throne
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The original Enterprise Cobol Manual (several years ago),
had a comment that stipulated that, like C or JAVA,
the COBOL LENGTH function of a variable would return either
the compile time generated length,
or would reflect the length of a null (X'00') delineated string.
Subsequent versions of the manual have omitted the NULL delineated string concept
it is not in force, nor was it ever in force. The original manual was published in error |
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dick scherrer
Moderator Emeritus
Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Posts: 19244
Location: Inside the Matrix
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Hello,
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| you cannot change the length of the variable at run time -- it will always and forever be the length set at compile time. |
While length will remain constant; You can choose how much of the variable you use.
So you might consider calculating/determining the "length to use" and when "using" the field, specify reference modification and the calculated length-to-use for those statements. . . |
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