ARGLEN: Measuring the Length of a String

The ARGLEN function measures the length of a character string within a field, excluding trailing spaces. The field format in a Master File specifies the length of a field, including trailing spaces.

In Dialogue Manager, you can measure the length of a supplied character string using the .LENGTH suffix.

Measure the Length of a Character String

ARGLEN(length, source_string, output)

where:

length

Integer

Is the length of the field containing the character string, or a field that contains the length.

source_string

Alphanumeric

Is the name of the field containing the character string.

output

Integer

Is the field that contains the result, or the format of the output value enclosed in single quotation marks.

Measuring the Length of a Character String

ARGLEN determines the length of the character string in LAST_NAME and stores the result in NAME_LEN: 

TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE
PRINT LAST_NAME AND COMPUTE
NAME_LEN/I3 = ARGLEN(15, LAST_NAME, NAME_LEN);
WHERE DEPARTMENT EQ 'MIS';
END

The output is:

LAST_NAME
 
NAME_LEN
 
---------
 
--------
 
SMITH
 
       5
 
JONES
 
       5
 
MCCOY
 
       5
 
BLACKWOOD
 
       9
 
GREENSPAN
 
       9
 
CROSS
 
       5

ARGLEN determines the length of the character string in LAST_NAME and stores the result in a column with the format I3: 

ARGLEN(15, LAST_NAME, 'I3')

For SMITH, the result is 5.

For BLACKWOOD, the result is 9.