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length of a field


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nitin_rathor

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:17 pm
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Hi,
i have a file having a header and detail record. the first byte is 'H' and then one filler followed by 10 bytes of account number. I need to perform a check on the length of account number. If length is of 10 bytes then only file is accepted else it is rejected. How can i extract the length of account number from the header record and use it in check condition?
please suggest. thanks!!
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CICS Guy

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:23 pm
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Quote:
I need to perform a check on the length of account number. If length is of 10 bytes then only file is accepted else it is rejected.
If the field is ten bytes, check the 10th byte (reference modification) to see if it is not numeric (or valid for the account number or not a blank or not low value).
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dick scherrer

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:26 pm
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Hello,

Quote:
I need to perform a check on the length of account number. If length is of 10 bytes then only file is accepted else it is rejected
First, you need to define the "rules".

If the field has a defined length of 10 bytes, it will always be 10 bytes. What should happen if there is an embedded letter or blank in the 10 bytes? Does a valid account number contain only numerics? What if the "account number" was stored incorrectly and was 12 numeric bytes?

When you have defined the rules, then you can implement the code. . .
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Ketan Varhade

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:38 pm
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HI, first checkx(1:1) is equal to 'H' and then Move the x(3:10) to Y and then check for the length of Y and the process the data
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dick scherrer

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:29 pm
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Hello,

Maybe not. . . The length of Y will always be 10. . .
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nitin_rathor

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:38 pm
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Quote:
What should happen if there is an embedded letter or blank in the 10 bytes? Does a valid account number contain only numerics? What if the "account number" was stored incorrectly and was 12 numeric bytes?


Hi,
if account number contains anything other than numeric data, it got to be rejected. It has to numeric only. And it is 10 bytes only.
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dick scherrer

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:33 pm
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Hello,

Suggest you create a little test program (An "if numeric" test may do what you want. . .) and a test file of values similar to :

Code:
0123456789 valid
0 12345678 invalid
 012345678 invalid
0123 45678 invalid
012345B678 invalid

and add any other pattterns you want to test.

Execute your validation code to make sure that valid data is accepted and the others are identified as "bad". Once you are satisfied with your validatoin code, use it in the "real" program.
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Ketan Varhade

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:32 am
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Hi Dick,
I disagree, The lenght of the function will return the lenght that variable contains and not the lenght of the variable
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dbzTHEdinosauer

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:09 pm
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Ketan Varhade wrote:
Hi Dick,
I disagree, The lenght of the function will return the lenght that variable contains and not the lenght of the variable


well, you can disagree, but in COBOL,
the length function determines the length based on defined memory
(either picture clause or reference modification length)
and NEVER based on the content of the field.

if you are referring to an old version of e-cobol manual that speaks about
null delimited strings, that has been updated to reflect what I have said above.
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Robert Sample

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:06 pm
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Ketan, from the COBOL Language Reference manual (link at the top of the page):
Quote:
1.3.8.4 LENGTH OF

The LENGTH OF special register contains the number of bytes used by a data item.
COBOL is not like C or Perl or other such languages -- variable lengths are set at compile time and cannot be changed at run time. And an alphanumeric variable always contains the number of bytes it is defined to have -- whether they are LOW-VALUES, data bytes, or HIGH-VALUES, or spaces.
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Ketan Varhade

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:10 pm
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I have used this in a program in which I have used to return the length of the data the varaiable is holding
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Craq Giegerich

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:20 pm
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Ketan Varhade wrote:
I have used this in a program in which I have used to return the length of the data the varaiable is holding


I doubt it! But I only have 40 years experience with COBOL.
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Robert Sample

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:21 pm
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Code I tested:
Code:
       01  WS-VAR.
           05  WS-1-LEN                PIC S9(04) COMP VALUE ZERO.
           05  WS-2-LEN                PIC S9(04) COMP VALUE ZERO.
           05  WS-1                    PIC X(26) VALUE 'ABCDE'.
           05  WS-2                    PIC X(26) VALUE
               'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'.

       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       MAIN-PARA.
           DISPLAY '   LENGTH OF WS-1 ' LENGTH OF WS-1.
           DISPLAY '   LENGTH OF WS-2 ' LENGTH OF WS-2.
           COMPUTE WS-1-LEN = FUNCTION LENGTH (WS-1).
           COMPUTE WS-2-LEN = FUNCTION LENGTH (WS-2).
           DISPLAY 'FN LENGTH OF WS-1 ' WS-1-LEN.
           DISPLAY 'FN LENGTH OF WS-2 ' WS-2-LEN.
produces results of
Code:
    LENGTH OF WS-1 000000026
    LENGTH OF WS-2 000000026
 FN LENGTH OF WS-1 00026
 FN LENGTH OF WS-2 00026
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dick scherrer

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:17 pm
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Hello,

Quote:
I have used this in a program in which I have used to return the length of the data the varaiable is holding
Yes, but to no purpose. . .

The code will compile and run, but there is no value/functionality added. . .
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Anuj Dhawan

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:57 pm
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This
Code:
compute lth-of-fld = function length(variablename).
or this
Code:
compute lth-of-fld = length of variablename.
will give the length of the field, not the length of the data in the field. If the field is defined pic x(10) and the content is 'ABC', the length returned by the function is 10. To claculate teh length of contents you might need to write a bit of code:
Code:
01  SOMETEXT           PIC X(40) VALUE 'THIS IS THE TEXT'.


INSPECT FUNCTION REVERSE(SOMETEXT) TALLYING L FOR LEADING SPACES
COMPUTE L = LENGTH OF SOMETEXT - L
L will contain the length of the "contents of" SOMETEXT.
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dbzTHEdinosauer

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:14 pm
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I believe,
that if you look at past behavior of Ketan,
after he has made one of his ridiculous comments,
that he will absent himself from the forum for a while,
hoping everyone will forget his erroneous posts,
and then start again.
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