CONCAT
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Adds to the end of the character field specified by Pre (Prefix) the character field specified by Suf (Suffix). he concatenated field is placed in Target . Indicators are optional.
CONCAT
Pre (*NONE | Character Expression) Suf (String:Blanks) Target (Character Expression)
BLANK (Numeric Expression)
Fill (<u>*NOPAD</u> | *PAD)
Type (<u>*NONE</u>| *BINARY | *BOOLEAN | *BYTE | *CHAR | *DECIMAL | *FLOAT | *FLOAT4 | *FLOAT8 | *IND |
*INTEGER | *INTEGER2 | *INTEGER4 | *INTEGER8 | *ONECHAR | *PACKED | *ZONED)
Len (Length Integer, [Decimal Integer])
Parameters
Pre
Optional. When used, must contain a valid character expression.
If Pre is not specified, Suf is concatenated to the end of Target . Pre can contain a string, which can be one of: a field name, array element, named constant, data structure name, table name, or literal.
If Pre is not specified, Target is used. The following references to Pre apply to Target if Pre is not specified.
Suf
Required. Must contain a string that may contain the number of blanks to be inserted between the concatenated strings. Its format is the string, followed by a colon, followed by the number of blanks.
If graphic strings are being concatenated, the blanks are double-byte blanks.
The string portion can contain one of: a field name, array element, named constant, data structure name, table name, literal, or data structure subfield name.
The number of blanks portion must be numeric with zero decimal positions, and can contain one of: a named constant, array element, literal, table name, or field name. If a colon is specified, the number of blanks must be specified. If no colon is specified, concatenation occurs with the trailing blanks, if any, in Pre , or Target if Pre is not specified. If the number of blanks, N, is specified, Pre is copied to Target left-justified. Use the Blank () parameter to specify the number of blanks. The number of blanks must be numeric with zero decimal places, and can be a literal, an array element, or field name. Leading blanks are never dropped.
Target
Required. Must be a string and can contain one of: a field name, array element, data structure name, or table name. It is always left justified and its length is the length of Pre and Suf combined, plus any intervening blanks. If it is not, truncation occurs from the right.
BLANK
Optional. Indicates that Target should be padded on the right with blanks after the concatenation occurs, if Target is longer than the result of the operation. Only the left-most part of the field is affected if padding is not specified.
Resulting indicators are optional. If specified, they are set just as if a COMPARE operation had executed, whether or not the condition in the operation code was satisfied. Avoid using indicators in this way, however, as they detract from the structure and readability of the program. This capability is provided only for compatibility with the AS/400 and System/38.
Fill
Optional. Specifies if you want to fill, or pad Target (Target) with blanks. The default is *NOPAD.
- *NOPAD indicates that Target will not be padded with blanks.
- *PAD indicates that Target will be padded with blanks.
Type
Optional. Can be any of the types listed. *NONE is the default. See Type Parameter for further information.
Len
Optional. Defines the length of the field. If Len is decimal (3,1) *ZONED is assigned as the default. If Len is character (3), *CHAR is assigned as the default.
Depending upon the Type specified, the Len parameter may be required. For instance, types of *CHAR, *PACKED, *ZONED will require a Len . A compiler message will display if the Len parameter is needed.
Remarks
The CONCAT operation concatenates the string specified in Suf to the end of the string specified in Pre and places it in Target . The source and target strings must all be of the same type, either all character or all graphic.