This Natural profile and session parameter defines the character to be used as the assignment character for the input parameter processing in INPUT statements, either in keyword/delimiter mode or when processing data from the Natural stack.

Possible settings	any special character	Assignment character for the input parameter processing in INPUT statements.
Default setting	=	Equals sign.
Dynamic specification	yes
Specification within session	yes
Applicable statements	SET GLOBALS
Applicable command	GLOBALS
Application programming interface	USR0350N, USR1005N *	See SYSEXT - Natural Application Programming Interfaces in the Utilities documentation. * Recommended.

Notes:

1. The character specified with the IA parameter must not be the same as the character specified with the DC (decimal character) or ID (input delimiter character) parameter. In addition, we recommend that this character is not the same as the one specified with the CF (control character for mainframe terminal commands) or HI (help character) parameter.
2. Within a Natural session, the profile parameter IA can be overridden by the session parameter IA.
3. Under Natural Security, the setting of this parameter can be overridden by the Session Parameters option of the Library Profile.

Example:

In the following example, it is assumed that, for the beginning, the default input assign character (=) applies.

** Example 'IACHAR': Input Assign character                             
************************************************************************
DEFINE DATA LOCAL                                                       
1 #A (A1)                                                               
1 #B (A1)                                                               
END-DEFINE                                                              
*                                                                       
INPUT #A #B                                                             
*                                                                       
WRITE 'Field #A:' #A  / 'Field #B:' #B                                  
*                                                                       
END  

1. Enter the command

   IACHAR #A=Y,#B=X

   The program produces the following output:

   Page      1                                                  05-01-19  11:05:51
                                                                                  
   Field #A: Y                                                                    
   Field #B: X

2. Enter the command

   GLOBALS IA=:

   This sets the input assign character to colon (:).

3. Then enter the command

   IACHAR #B:X,#A:Y

   The program produces the following output:

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   Field #A: Y                                                                    
   Field #B: X