RPG Cafe: Fall 2020: Numeric BIF enhancements

Content

New rules for string parameters for %DEC, %INT, etc.

• Use EXPROPTS(*ALWBLANKNUM) to allow an all-blank value.
• Use EXPROPTS(*USEDECEDIT) to allow digit separators, such as thousands separators.
• These keywords also affect the way XML-INTO and DATA-INTO handle the values for numeric fields and subfields.

Details

EXPROPTS(*ALWBLANKNUM)

With EXPROPTS(*ALWBLANKNUM), the character parameter for numeric built-in functions such as %DEC and %FLOAT return zero if the parameter is blank or empty. (Without EXPROPTS(*ALWBLANKNUM), these built-in functions fail with status code 105 if the character parameter is blank or empty.)

In this example, EXPROPTS(*ALWBLANKNUM) is specified. The parameter for %DEC is blank, and %DEC returns zero.

          CTL-OPT EXPROPTS(*ALWBLANKNUM);
          DCL-S num PACKED(5 : 2);
          DCL-S string CHAR(20);

          string = *BLANKS;
          num = %DEC(string : 63 : 5);
          // num = 0

EXPROPTS(*USEDECEDIT)

With EXPROPTS(*USEDECEDIT), the character parameter for numeric built-in functions such as %DEC and %FLOAT can have digit separators. The DECEDIT keyword is used to determine the decimal point and digit separator character. (Without EXPROPTS(*USEDECEDIT), both the period and comma are considered to be the decimal point, and a string with digit separators such as '1,234,567.8' fails with status code 105 because it has three decimal points.)

In this example, EXPROPTS(*USEDECEDIT) is specified. The parameter for the DECEDIT keyword defaults to '.', so the period is the decimal point and the comma is the digit separator. The parameter for %DEC has thousands separators and a decimal point, and %DEC returns -1234567.89.

          CTL-OPT EXPROPTS(*USEDECEDIT);
          DCL-S num PACKED(15 : 5);
          DCL-S string CHAR(20);

          string = '-1,234,567.89';
          num = %DEC(string : 63 : 5);
          // num = -1234567.89

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