Replacing chars in a string

[fjleon]

Hi, a quick question. Is there a way to replace some chars in a string with another chars?

I want to remove all double spaces in a string. For example, "this__is__a__string" should be processed and become "this_is_a_string"

I tried to look into %replace, but either i don't understand its use or it doesn't do what i want.

[dhuesman]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Could you provide the spec?

$replace...

[fjleon]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

The string is a composition of 2 strings. I can't modify the program that generated that string, so i must resolve it in my program. The first one is sized 20 chars and the second one is sized 50 chars, for a total of 70.

Often the first string has blanks at the end. Currently i am resolving this by using this code:

MYSTRING=%SUBST(MYSTRING:1:%SCAN('  ':MYSTRING))+%SUBST(MYSTRING:22:47)

That way, it copies the first part of the string until it finds two spaces, and then copies from the 22nd char (leaving 1 as space) until the end. It's ugly, but it works.

However, it would be much cleaner to use something like

mystring=%replace(mystring:'  ':' ')

Similar like you can do in lots of other programming languages.

[GLS400]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Hi fjleon:

Try this:

mystring70=%trim(mystring20) + ' ' + mystring50

Best of Luck
GLS

[fjleon]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Those two strings don't exist in my program, so i can't do that. I can only work with the resulting string. Thanks anyway

[GLS400]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Hi fjleon:

mystring20=%subst(mystring70 : 1 : 20)
mystring50=%subst(mystring70 : 21 : 50)
mystring70=%trim(mystring20) + ' ' + mystring50

or

pos=%scan('  ' : mystring70)
mystring70=%replace('' : mystring70 : pos :1)

see this link:

http://www.code400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1820&highlight=%25replace

search for "delete"

Best of Luck
GLS

[BenThurley]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

This is what I would do,

In the d-specs...

Define your mystring in a data structure and overlay it with a 20 char string and a 50 char string.

 D                 DS
 D  mystring               1     70
 D  mystring20             1     20
 D  mystring50            21     70 

Then as GLS400 said...

mystring = %Trim(mystring20) + ' ' + mystring50 

[PHUATEST]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Try this.
Manual/old way on RPGLE. Please try to use the variable(K01 & K02).

C IF OUTCHAR <> ' '
C K01 SCAN OUTCHAR KCPOS 3 0 90
C DOW *IN90= '1'
C Eval %Subst(OUTCHAR:KCPOS:1) = K02
C K01 Scan OUTCHAR KCPOS 90
C ENDDO

[Flodge]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Hello

I hope this helps you

I wrote this one quickly while waiting for my batch job. It reduces all instances of two, three or however many spaces to a single space.

The trick to stop it looping at the end of the string is in the condition on the Dow statement:

D TestString      S             30    inz('this  is  a  string')                 
D Pos             S              3  0                                            
D TwoSpace        S              2    inz(*Blanks)                               
C                   Eval      Pos = %Scan(TwoSpace:TestString)                   
C                   Dow       Pos > 0 and Pos < %Len(%Trim(TestString))          
C                   Eval      TestString =                                       
C                                %Trim(%SubSt(TestString:1:Pos)) + ' ' +         
C                                %Trim(%Subst(TestString:Pos))                   
C                   Eval      Pos = %Scan(TwoSpace:TestString)                   
C                   Enddo                                                        
C                   Seton                                        LR 

[violinsoundcool]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

I know that this is an old thread, but I need to be able to do something like this. I need to search a string for a double quote, and for every double quote that it finds, I want it to replace it with a backslash and a double quote. So, replace every " with a \". I've tried to get %replace and %xlate to work, but I just can't seem to. Is there a way in RPG to do this?

[B.Hauser]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Hi,

have you tried the following:

/Free %
   NewString = %XLate('"': '\': OrigString);
/End-Free 

Birgitta

[Mercury]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

%Xlate can only replace one character at a time.
You have to proceed in two steps : scan + replace
Try this.

D StartPos        s             10u 0 
doU StartPos = 0;                                     
  StartPos = %Scan('"': SrcString : StartPos + 2 );   
  if StartPos = 0;                                    
    Leave;                                            
  endif;                                              
  SrcString  = %Replace('\': SrcString : StartPos: [COLOR=red][B]0[/B][/COLOR]);
enddo;

The fourth parameter of %Replace() represents the number of characters in the source string to be replaced. If zero is specified, then the replacement string is inserted before the specified starting position.

[violinsoundcool]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

%xlate didn't work because I was trying to replace every '"' with a '\"'. Thus, I would be adding 1 to the size of the string. I ended up using %scan and %replace in the following code:

         desc = I2DESC;

         pos = %scan('"':desc);
         DoW pos > 0;
           desc = %replace('\"':desc:pos:1);
           If (pos+2 <= %len(desc));
             pos = %scan('"':desc:pos+2);
           Else;
             pos=0;
           ENDIF;
         ENDDO;

[jamief]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

must use the %replace i posted something on that
here on the forum bout 200 years ago

I am down to two days before converting the rest of our
companies to exchange and dont think i will have time..

jamie

[Mercury]

Re: Replacing chars in a string

Apparently you didn't put in practise the loop I suggested in my previous post, seems more elegant though ? Only one %scan, only one %replace, no need to test against the source string length...