%triml - i didnt know

[jamief]

This has been around since V5R3 but me being semi-dense
I never used it.....well today I did so I thought I'd
share in case anyone else has been on a mental vacation.

I did a search on the forum and its listed a couple times
yet I never caught it

*..1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7...+....
 * LOCATION will have the value 'Toronto, Ontario  '.
 
 /FREE    
     // Trimming blanks 
 
     Location = %triml('  Toronto, Ontario  '); 
     // LOCATION now has the value 'Toronto, Ontario  '. 
 
     // Trimming other characters 
 
     trimmed = %triml('$******5.27***        ' : '$* '); 
                        // trimmed is now '5.27***        '

[Billw]

Re: %triml - i didnt know

Yes you can "Trim" any specified character(s). Becuase on the normal trim you don't specify it assumes blanks.

But specifiing the second paramter you can trim(l/r) any characters.

See you're never too old to learn....just too old to retain it....

[littlepd]

Re: %triml - i didnt know

FYI, if you can, try to use %triml and %trimr as much as possible instead of the straight %trim. %trim's performance blows.

[Billw]

Re: %triml - i didnt know

So use triml and trimr (2 processes) as oppposed to using trim (1 process)? I never concern myself too much such nitty gritty performance issues.

[bryce4president]

Re: %triml - i didnt know

I never concern myself too much such nitty gritty performance issues.

Unless you are going to run a database on an Apple II, then these types of performance issues might be concerning.....

[Billw]

Re: %triml - i didnt know

Yup but I gave up on DB on Apple II just after my DB blew up on my PET.

[littlepd]

Re: %triml - i didnt know

So use triml and trimr (2 processes) as oppposed to using trim (1 process)? I never concern myself too much such nitty gritty performance issues.

Of course that's not what I mean. I mean if you can be fairly confident that the data in a field is already left justified, or if your just concatenating two fields together, just use $trimr, not %trim.