This document covers the following topics:
For an explanation of the symbols used in the syntax diagram, see Syntax Symbols.
Related Statements: COMPRESS | COMPUTE | EXAMINE | MOVE | MOVE ALL | RESET
Belongs to Function Group: Arithmetic and Data Movement Operations
The SEPARATE statement is used to separate the content of
an alphanumeric or binary operand into two or more alphanumeric or binary
operands (or into multiple occurrences of an alphanumeric or binary array).
Operand Definition Table:
| Operand | Possible Structure | Possible Formats | Referencing Permitted | Dynamic Definition | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| operand1 | C | S | A | U | B | yes | no | |||||||||||||
| operand2 | C | S | N | P | I | B* | yes | no | ||||||||||||
| operand3 | C | S | N | P | I | B* | yes | no | ||||||||||||
| operand4 | S | A | G | A | U | B | yes | yes | ||||||||||||
| operand5 | S | A | U | B | yes | yes | ||||||||||||||
| operand6 | C | S | A | U | B | yes | no | |||||||||||||
| operand7 | S | N | P | I | yes | yes | ||||||||||||||
* Format B of operand2 and operand3 may be used only with a length of less than or equal to 4.
Syntax Element Description:
| operand1 |
Source Operand:
operand1 is the alphanumeric/binary constant or variable whose content is to be separated. Trailing blanks in operand1 are removed
before the value is processed (even if the blank is used as a delimiter
character; see also the |
|---|---|
| SUBSTRING |
Normally, the whole content of a field is separated, starting from the beginning of the field. The Note: |
| LEFT JUSTIFIED | This option causes leading blanks which may occur between the delimiter character and the next non-blank character to be removed from the target operand. |
| operand4 |
Target Operand:
operand4 represents the target operands. If an array is specified as target operand, it is filled occurrence by occurrence with the separated values. The number of target operands corresponds to the number of delimiter characters (including trailing delimiter characters) in operand1, plus 1. If operand4 is a dynamic variable, its
length may be modified by the For general information on dynamic variables, see the section Using Dynamic and Large Variables. |
| IGNORE / |
If you do not specify enough target fields for the source value to be separated into, you will receive an appropriate error message. To avoid this, you have two options:
See also Example 3. |
| DELIMITERS | See Delimiters Option below. |
| WITH RETAINED DELIMITERS |
Normally, the delimiter characters themselves are not moved into the target operands. When you specify Example: The following ... MOVE '150+30' TO #A SEPARATE #A INTO #B #C #D WITH RETAINED DELIMITER '+' ... See also Example 3. |
| GIVING NUMBER operand7 |
The If you use the If you use the |
|
|
WITH [RETAINED]
|
|
[ANY] DELIMITERS
|
|
|
INPUT DELIMITERS
|
|||||
DELIMITERS operand6
|
Delimiter characters within operand1 indicate the positions at which the value is to be separated.
If you omit the DELIMITERS option (or specify
WITH ANY DELIMITERS), a blank and
any character which is neither a letter nor a numeric character will be treated
as delimiter character.
WITH INPUT DELIMITERS
indicates that the blank and the default input delimiter character (as
specified with the session parameter ID) is to be used as
delimiter character.
WITH DELIMITERS
operand6 indicates that each of the
specified characters (operand6) is to be treated as
delimiter character. If operand6 contains trailing
blanks, these will be ignored.
** Example 'SEPEX1': SEPARATE
************************************************************************
DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #TEXT1 (A6) INIT <'AAABBB'>
1 #TEXT2 (A7) INIT <'AAA BBB'>
1 #TEXT3 (A7) INIT <'AAA-BBB'>
1 #TEXT4 (A7) INIT <'A.B/C,D'>
1 #FIELD1A (A6)
1 #FIELD1B (A6)
1 #FIELD2A (A3)
1 #FIELD2B (A3)
1 #FIELD3A (A3)
1 #FIELD3B (A3)
1 #FIELD4A (A3)
1 #FIELD4B (A3)
1 #FIELD4C (A3)
1 #FIELD4D (A3)
1 #NBT (N1)
1 #DEL (A5)
END-DEFINE
*
WRITE NOTITLE 'EXAMPLE A (SOURCE HAS NO BLANKS)'
SEPARATE #TEXT1 INTO #FIELD1A #FIELD1B GIVING NUMBER #NBT
WRITE / '=' #TEXT1 5X '=' #FIELD1A 4X '=' #FIELD1B 4X '=' #NBT
*
WRITE NOTITLE /// 'EXAMPLE B (SOURCE HAS EMBEDDED BLANK)'
SEPARATE #TEXT2 INTO #FIELD2A #FIELD2B GIVING NUMBER #NBT
WRITE / '=' #TEXT2 4X '=' #FIELD2A 7X '=' #FIELD2B 7X '=' #NBT
*
WRITE NOTITLE /// 'EXAMPLE C (USING DELIMITER ''-'')'
SEPARATE #TEXT3 INTO #FIELD3A #FIELD3B WITH DELIMITER '-'
WRITE / '=' #TEXT3 4X '=' #FIELD3A 7X '=' #FIELD3B
*
MOVE ',/' TO #DEL
WRITE NOTITLE /// 'EXAMPLE D USING DELIMITER' '=' #DEL
*
SEPARATE #TEXT4 INTO #FIELD4A #FIELD4B
#FIELD4C #FIELD4D WITH DELIMITER #DEL
WRITE / '=' #TEXT4 4X '=' #FIELD4A 7X '=' #FIELD4B
/ 19X '=' #FIELD4C 7X '=' #FIELD4D
*
END
EXAMPLE A (SOURCE HAS NO BLANKS)
#TEXT1: AAABBB #FIELD1A: AAABBB #FIELD1B: #NBT: 1
EXAMPLE B (SOURCE HAS EMBEDDED BLANK)
#TEXT2: AAA BBB #FIELD2A: AAA #FIELD2B: BBB #NBT: 2
EXAMPLE C (USING DELIMITER '-')
#TEXT3: AAA-BBB #FIELD3A: AAA #FIELD3B: BBB
EXAMPLE D USING DELIMITER #DEL: ,/
#TEXT4: A.B/C,D #FIELD4A: A.B #FIELD4B: C
#FIELD4C: D #FIELD4D:
** Example 'SEPEX2': SEPARATE (using array variable)
************************************************************************
DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #INPUT-LINE (A60) INIT <'VALUE1, VALUE2,VALUE3'>
1 #FIELD (A20/1:5)
1 #NUMBER (N2)
END-DEFINE
*
SEPARATE #INPUT-LINE LEFT JUSTIFIED INTO #FIELD (1:5)
GIVING NUMBER IN #NUMBER
*
WRITE NOTITLE #INPUT-LINE //
#FIELD (1) /
#FIELD (2) /
#FIELD (3) /
#FIELD (4) /
#FIELD (5) /
#NUMBER
*
END
VALUE1, VALUE2,VALUE3
VALUE1
VALUE2
VALUE3
3
** Example 'SEPEX3': SEPARATE (with REMAINDER, RETAIN option)
************************************************************************
DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #INPUT-LINE (A60) INIT <'VAL1, VAL2, VAL3,VAL4'>
1 #FIELD (A10/1:4)
1 #REM (A30)
END-DEFINE
*
WRITE TITLE LEFT 'INP:' #INPUT-LINE /
'#FIELD (1)' 13T '#FIELD (2)' 25T '#FIELD (3)'
37T '#FIELD (4)' 49T 'REMAINDER'
/ '----------' 13T '----------' 25T '----------'
37T '----------' 49T '------------------------------'
*
SEPARATE #INPUT-LINE INTO #FIELD (1:2)
REMAINDER #REM WITH DELIMITERS ','
WRITE #FIELD(1) 13T #FIELD(2) 25T #FIELD(3) 37T #FIELD(4) 49T #REM
*
RESET #FIELD(*) #REM
SEPARATE #INPUT-LINE INTO #FIELD (1:2)
IGNORE WITH DELIMITERS ','
WRITE #FIELD(1) 13T #FIELD(2) 25T #FIELD(3) 37T #FIELD(4) 49T #REM
*
RESET #FIELD(*) #REM
SEPARATE #INPUT-LINE INTO #FIELD (1:4) IGNORE
WITH RETAINED DELIMITERS ','
WRITE #FIELD(1) 13T #FIELD(2) 25T #FIELD(3) 37T #FIELD(4) 49T #REM
*
RESET #FIELD(*) #REM
*
SEPARATE SUBSTRING(#INPUT-LINE,1,50) INTO #FIELD (1:4)
IGNORE WITH DELIMITERS ','
WRITE #FIELD(1) 13T #FIELD(2) 25T #FIELD(3) 37T #FIELD(4) 49T #REM
*
END
INP: VAL1, VAL2, VAL3,VAL4 #FIELD (1) #FIELD (2) #FIELD (3) #FIELD (4) REMAINDER ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ------------------------------ VAL1 VAL2 VAL3,VAL4 VAL1 VAL2 VAL1 , VAL2 , VAL1 VAL2 VAL3 VAL4