STRING 














STRING



   The STRING verb concatenates the partial or complete contents of two or more 
   strings or literals into one single data item. Below example illustrates how 
   the string is used.


   String Example:

         01	WS-DATA-ITEM1 	PIC X(10)	“THIS IS ”.
         01	WS-DATA-ITEM2 	PIC X(20)	“STRING FIRST”.



        STRING   WS-DATA-ITEM1	DELIMITED BY SIZE.
		 WS-DATA-ITEM2	DELIMITED BY SPACES
		‘  EXAMPLE.  ‘	DELIMITED BY SIZE
		INTO	WS-DESTINATION


   This example will concatenate the strings WS-DATA-ITEM1 and WS-DATA-ITEM2 into 
   WS-DESTINATION. In above example WS-DATA-ITEM1 is delimited by size,so complete 
   string content will be moved to destination string(WS-DESTINATION). WS-DATA-ITEM2 
   is delimited by SPACES, partial content (characters up to first space) will be 
   moved. And complete literal (i.e. ‘  EXAMPLE. ‘) will be moved.

   Now WS-DESTINATION will contain “THIS IS STRING EXAMPLE”.





   



   WITH POINTER is optional, value associated with it (Pointer-integer) determines 
   the starting character position for insertion into the destination string, and 
   pointer-integer must be an integer item.


   ON OVERFLOW is optional, this clause specifies what needs to be done when overflow 
   condition occurred. Overflow condition occurs in following conditions. The pointer-
   integer is not pointing to a character position within the destination string when 
   the STRING executes. i.e.less than 1 or exceeding the length of destination string. 
   If all source strings together are not accommodated in destination string then 
   overflow occurs.
   

   DELIMITED BY phrase specifies the content of source string to be transferred.
    DELIMITED BY [SPACES, Data item or literal] -> Transfers the data till sepcificed 
                                                   delimeter found 
    DELIMITED BY SIZE, Transfers complete string.
  



   Data movement from a particular source string ends when either;
	1. The end of the source string is reached 
	2. The end of the destination string is reached 
	3. The delimiter is detected. 


   The STRING statement ends when either; 
	1. All the source strings have been processed.
	2. The destination string is full.
	3. The pointer points outside the string. 





   STRING Example: 

	01	WS-DATA-ITEM1	PIC X(20)	VALUE “THIS STATEMENT”.
	01	WS-DATA-ITEM2	PIC X(20)	VALUE “IS EXAMPLE #2 AND”.
	01	WS-DATA-ITEM3	PIC X(25)	VALUE “FOR STRING CONCATENATION”.
	01	WS-POINTER	PIC 9(02)	VALUE 3.

	01	WS-DESTINATION	PIC X(35).


	STRING WS-DATA-ITEM 1	DELIMITED BY SPACES
		SPACE 			DELIMITED BY SIZE
		WS-DATA-ITEM 2	DELIMITED BY ‘#’
		SPACE 			DELIMITED BY SIZE
		WS-DATA-ITEM 3 	DELIMITED BY SIZE
	INTO	WS-DESTINATION
	WITH POINTER WS-POINTER
	ON OVERFLOW
		DISPLAY “Overflow condition occurred”
	END-STRING


   In Above example result will be transfered into destination string from 3rd 
   character position (WITH POINTER option).
 
   WS-DATA-ITEM1 is delimited by spaces, so characters up to first space (i.e. 
   “THIS”) will be inserted into WS-DESTINATION, starting from 3 character 
   position (WS-POINTER value is 3). After all data transfer, WS-POINTER will 
   be 7 (next insertion position).

   WS-DATA-ITEM2 is delimited by delimiter ‘#’, so characters will be moved to 
   destination string  till it encounters delimiter ‘#’ (i.e. ‘IS EXAMPLE ’). 
   WS-POINTER will be 18.

   WS-DATA-ITEM3 is delimited by SIZE, so all characters will be moved to desti-
   nation string. WS-POINTER will be 36. 

   WS-POINTER is exceeding length of destination string (35), overflow condition 
   is satisfied, so DISPLAY statement will be executed
  

  

   Difference between DELIMITED BY SIZE and DELIMITED BY SPACE

   DELIMITED BY SIZE will add whole of the source string to destination string.
   DELIMITED BY SPACE will add part of source string until first space encountered.



   For example Input string contains value -  “This is Example string” 

   If you want full string in the output field, use BY SIZE option as shown below.
   DELIMITED BY SIZE 	->   “This is Example String”

        
   If you want only first word from the sentence, use BY SPACE option as shown below.
   DELIMITED BY SPACE 	->   “This”