EXAMINE

This document covers the following topics:

Syntax 1 - EXAMINE
Syntax 2 - EXAMINE TRANSLATE
Syntax 3 - EXAMINE for Unicode Graphemes
Examples

Belongs to Function Group: Arithmetic and Data Movement Operations

Syntax 1 - EXAMINE

`EXAMINE`	[`DIRECTION-clause`]
	[`FULL` [`VALUE` [`OF`]]]	`operand1`
		`SUBSTRING` (`operand1`,`operand2,operand3`)
	`POSITION-clause`
	[`FOR`] [`FULL` [`VALUE` [`OF`]]] [`PATTERN`] `operand4`
	[`DELIMITERS-option`]
	`DELETE-REPLACE-clause`
	`GIVING-clause`
	`DELETE-REPLACE-clause` `GIVING-clause`

For an explanation of the symbols used in the syntax diagram, see Syntax Symbols.

Syntax Description - Syntax 1

The EXAMINE statement is used to inspect the content of an alphanumeric or binary field, or a range of fields within an array, and to

return the number of how many times a search-pattern was found;
return the byte position where a search-pattern appears first;
return the significant content length of a field; that is, the field length without trailing blanks;
return the occurrence number (indices) of an array field, where a pattern was found first;
replace a pattern by another pattern;
delete a pattern.

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure			Possible Formats						Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand1`	C*	S	A	A	U				B	yes	no
`operand2`	C	S				N	P	I	B*	yes	no
`operand3`	C	S				N	P	I	B*	yes	no
`operand4`	C	S	A*	A	U				B	yes	no

* operand1 can only be a constant if the GIVING clause is used, but not if the DELETE/REPLACE clause is used.

* operand4 can also be used as an array, see Search and Replace with Multiple Values.

* Format B of operand2 and operand3 may be used only with a length of less than or equal to 4.

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`DIRECTION-clause`	DIRECTION Clause: This clause determines the search direction. For details, see DIRECTION Clause below.
`operand1`	Field to be Examined: `operand1` is the field whose content is to be examined. If `operand1` is a `DYNAMIC` variable, a `REPLACE` operation may cause its length to be increased or decreased; a `DELETE` operation may cause its length to be set to zero. The current length of a `DYNAMIC` variable can be ascertained by using the system variable `*LENGTH`.
`POSITION-clause`	POSITION Clause: This clause may be used to specify a starting and ending position within `operand1` (or the substring of `operand1`) for the examination. For details, see POSITION Clause below.
`operand4`	Value to be Used for EXAMINE Operation: `operand4` is the value which is searched for in the examined field(s). You may search for a single value or for multiple values. For more information on `operand4` and `operand6`, see `operand6`, which is used in the DELETE REPLACE Clause described below.
`FULL`	FULL Option: If `FULL` is specified for an operand, the entire value, including trailing blanks, will be processed. If `FULL` is not specified, trailing blanks in the operand will be ignored.
`SUBSTRING`	SUBSTRING Option: Normally, the content of a field is examined from the beginning of the field to the end or to the last non-blank character. With the `SUBSTRING` option, you examine only a certain part of the field. After the field name (`operand1`) in the `SUBSTRING` clause, you specify first the starting position (`operand2`) and then the length (`operand3`) of the field portion to be examined. For example, to examine the 5th to 12th position inclusive of a field #A, you would specify: EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#A,5,8). Notes: If you omit `operand2`, the starting position is assumed to be `1`. If you omit `operand3`, the length is assumed to be from the starting position to the end of the field. If `SUBSTRING` is used in conjunction with a `DYNAMIC` variable, the field behaves like a fixed length variable; that is, the length (`*LENGTH`) does not change as a result of the `EXAMINE` operation, regardless of whether a `DELETE` or `REPLACE` operation was executed or not.
`PATTERN`	PATTERN Option: If you wish to examine the field for a value which contains "wild characters", that is symbols for positions not to be examined, you use the `PATTERN` option. `operand4` may then include the following symbols for positions to be ignored: A period (.), question mark (?) or underscore (_) indicates a single position that is not to be examined. An asterisk () or a percent sign (%) indicates any number of positions not to be examined. Example: With `PATTERN 'NATAL'` you could examine the field for any value which contains `NAT` and `AL` no matter which and how many other characters are between `NAT` and `AL` (this would include the values `NATURAL` and `NATIONAL` as well as `NATAL`).
`DELIMITERS-option`	DELIMITERS Option: This option is used to scan for a value which exhibits delimiters. For details, see DELIMITERS Option below.
`DELETE-REPLACE-clause`	DELETE REPLACE Clause: The `DELETE` option of this clause is used to delete each search-value (`operand4`) found in `operand1`, whereas the `REPLACE` option is used to replace each search-value (`operand4`) found in `operand1` by the value specified in `operand6`. For details, see DELETE REPLACE Clause below.
`GIVING-clause`	For details, see GIVING Clause below.

DIRECTION Clause

The direction clause determines the search direction.

		`FORWARD`
`DIRECTION`		`BACKWARD`
		`operand8`

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure					Possible Formats												Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand8`	C	S				A1												yes	no

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`FORWARD`	Examine in Left-to-Right Direction: If you specify `FORWARD`, the contents of the field are examined from left to right.
`BACKWARD`	Examine in Right-to-Left Direction: If you specify `BACKWARD`, the contents of the field are examined from right to left.
`operand8`	Alternative Specification: If you specify `operand8`, the search direction is determined by the contents of `operand8`. `operand8` must be defined with format/length A1. If `operand8` contains an `F`, then the search direction is `FORWARD`, if `operand8` contains a `B`, the search direction is `BACKWARD`. All other values are invalid and are rejected at compile time if `operand8` is a constant, or at run time if `operand8` is a variable.

Note:
If the DIRECTION clause is not specified, the default direction is FORWARD.

POSITION Clause

The POSITION clause may be used to specify a starting and ending position within operand1 (or the substring of operand1) for the examination.

[[`STARTING`] `FROM` [`POSITION`] `operand9`]			`ENDING AT`		[`POSITION`] `operand10`
			`THRU`

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure					Possible Formats												Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand9`	C	S					N	P	I									yes	no
`operand10`	C	S					N	P	I									yes	no

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`FROM` `operand9`	Starting Position: `operand9` is used to define the starting position for the examination.
`ENDING AT / THRU operand10`	Ending Position: `operand10` is used to define the ending position for the examination.

The starting position (operand9) and the ending position (operand10) are relative to operand1 or the substring of operand1, and both are processed.

The search is performed starting from the starting position and ending at the ending position.

If the starting and/or ending position are not specified, the default position value applies. This value is determined by the search direction:

Direction	Default Starting Position	Default Ending Position
`FORWARD`	1 (first character)	length of `operand1` (last character)
`BACKWARD`	length of `operand1` (last character)	1 (first character)

With this solution, EXAMINE BACKWARD ... is identical to EXAMINE BACKWARD ... FROM *LENGTH(...) THRU 1, and works as expected.

Note:
If the search direction is FORWARD and the start position is greater than the end position, or if the search direction is BACKWARD and the start position is less than the end position, no search is performed.

DELIMITERS Option

	`ABSOLUTE`
	[`WITH DELIMITERS`]
	[`WITH DELIMITERS`] `operand5`

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure					Possible Formats													Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand5`	C	S				A	U					B							yes	no

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`ABSOLUTE`	Absolute Scan Option: This is the default option. It results in an absolute scan of the field for the specified value regardless of what other characters may surround the value.
`WITH DELIMITERS`	WITH DELIMITERS Option: This option is used to scan for a value which is delimited by blanks or by any character that is neither a letter nor a numeric character.
`WITH DELIMITERS operand5`	Specific Delimiter Option: This option is used to scan for a value which is delimited by the character or any of the characters specified in `operand5`. If the search value was found at the beginning or end of the examined field, only the right or left side has to be delimited by one of the `operand5` characters.

DELETE/REPLACE Clause

[`AND`]		`DELETE` [`FIRST`]
		`REPLACE` [`FIRST`] [`WITH`] [`FULL` [`VALUE` [`OF`]]] `operand6`

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure					Possible Formats												Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand6`	C	S	A*			A	U				B							yes	no

* operand6 can also be used as an array, see Search and Replace with Multiple Values.

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`DELETE`	DELETE Option: This option is used to delete the first (or all) occurrence(s) of the search-value (`operand4`) in the content of `operand1`.
`REPLACE`	REPLACE Option: This option is used to replace the first (or all) occurrence(s) of the search-value (`operand4`) in `operand1` by the replace value specified in `operand6`.
`FIRST`	FIRST Option: If you specify the keyword `FIRST`, only the first identical value will be deleted/replaced.

Notes:

If the REPLACE operation results in more characters being generated than will fit into operand1, you will receive an error message.
If operand1 is a dynamic variable, a REPLACE operation may cause its length to be increased or decreased; a DELETE operation may cause its length to be set to zero. The current length of a dynamic variable can be ascertained by using the system variable *LENGTH. For general information on dynamic variables, see Using Dynamic Variables.

Search and Replace with Multiple Values

The search (operand4) and replace value (operand6) may also be defined as array fields. This allows to substitute multiple different patterns in the examined field (operand1), all with an unique EXAMINE statement. It is not necessary to have the same number of occurrences for the search and replace operand. All what is required is the transfer compatibility between these fields; that is, operand4:=operand6 must be a valid operation; see Assignment Operations with Arrays in the Programming Guide.

The operation logic for the multi-value search is as follows:

The field to be examined (operand1) is passed through only a single time, either from left to right for direction FORWARD or from right to left for direction BACKWARD.
Beginning with the first position, the values in the search array (operand4) are tested for a match, one after the other, starting with the array occurrence with the lowest index.
If no search value was found, the comparison repeats on the next field position.
If one of the searched patterns is detected in the examined field (operand1), it is substituted with the value of the replace array (operand6), which overlays the matching pattern in operand4, if a operand4:=operand6 would be executed.
After a pattern replacement was performed, the compare process continues with the first occurrence for the search array, immediately after the inserted value. This means, a replaced pattern is skipped and may not be replaced a second time.

Example:

This example shows an HTML translation for the characters less than (<), greater than (>), and ampersand (&).

DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #HTML  (A/1:3) DYNAMIC INIT <'&lt;','&gt;','&amp;'>  
1 #TAB   (A/1:3) DYNAMIC INIT <'<','>','&'>
1 #DOC(A) DYNAMIC  /* document to be replaced 
END-DEFINE
#DOC := 'a&lt;&lt;b&amp;b&gt;c&gt;'
WRITE #DOC (AL=30) 'before'
/* Replace #DOC using #HTML to #TAB (n:1 replacement)
EXAMINE   #DOC FOR  #HTML(*)  REPLACE  #TAB(*)  
/* '&lt;'  is replaced by '<'  (4:1 replacement)
/* '&gt;'  is replaced by '>'  (4:1 replacement)
/* '&amp;' is replaced by '&'  (5:1 replacement)
WRITE #DOC (AL=30) 'after'
END

GIVING Clause

		`GIVING` [`IN`] `operand7`
		[`GIVING`] `NUMBER` [`IN`] `operand7`
[[`GIVING`] `POSITION` [`IN`] `operand7`]
[[`GIVING`] `LENGTH` [`IN`] `operand7`]
[[`GIVING`] `INDEX` [`IN`] `operand7` ...3]

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure					Possible Formats												Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand7`		S					N	P	I									yes	yes

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`GIVING`	GIVING Clause: If only the keyword `GIVING` is specified, this corresponds to `GIVING NUMBER` (default).
`NUMBER`	GIVING NUMBER Clause: Is used to obtain information on how many times the search value (`operand4`) was found in the field (`operand1`) whose content is to be examined.
`POSITION`	GIVING POSITION Clause: Is used to obtain the byte position within `operand1` (or the substring of `operand1`) where the first value identical to `operand4` was found.
`LENGTH`	GIVING LENGTH Clause: Is used to obtain the remaining content length of `operand1` (or the substring of `operand1`) after all delete/replace operations have been performed. Trailing blanks are ignored.
`operand7`	Number of Occurrences: The number of occurrences of the search-value. If the `REPLACE FIRST` or `DELETE FIRST` option is also used, the number will not exceed 1.
`INDEX operand7 ...3`	GIVING INDEX Clause: This option is only applicable if the underlying field to be examined is an array field. `GIVING INDEX` is used to obtain the array occurrence number (index) of `operand1` in which the first search-value (`operand4`) was found. `operand7` must be specified as many times as there are dimensions in `operand1` (maximum three times). `operand7` will return `0` if the search-value is found in none of the occurrences. Note: If the index range of `operand1` includes the occurrence `0` (for example, `0:5`), a value of `0` in `operand7` is ambiguous. In this case, an additional `GIVING NUMBER` clause should be used to ascertain whether the search-value was actually found or not.

Syntax 2 - EXAMINE TRANSLATE

`EXAMINE`	`operand1`					[`AND`]
	`SUBSTRING`	(`operand1`,`operand2`,`operand3`)
	`TRANSLATE`		`INTO`	`UPPER`	[`CASE`]
				`LOWER`
			`USING` [`INVERTED`] `operand4`

For an explanation of the symbols used in the syntax diagram, see Syntax Symbols.

Syntax Description - Syntax 2

The EXAMINE TRANSLATE statement is used to translate the characters contained in a field into upper-case or lower-case, or into other characters.

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure			Possible Formats						Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand1`		S	A	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	A	U				B	yes	no

*Format B of operand2 and operand3 may be used only with a length of less than or equal to 4.

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`EXAMINE operand1`	Complete Field Content Translation: `operand1` is the field whose content is to be translated.
`EXAMINE SUBSTRING` `operand1` `operand2` `operand3`	Partial Field Content Translation: Normally, the entire content of a field is translated. With the `SUBSTRING` option, you translate only a certain part of the field. After the field name (`operand1`) in the `SUBSTRING` clause, you specify first the starting position (`operand2`) and then the length (`operand3`) of the field portion to be examined. For example, to translate the 5th to 12th position inclusive of a field `#A`, you would specify: EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#A,5,8) AND TRANSLATE ... Note: If you omit `operand2`, the starting position is assumed to be `1`. If you omit `operand3`, the length is assumed to be from the starting position to the end of the field.
`TRANSLATE INTO UPPER CASE`	Upper Case Translation: The content of `operand1` will be translated into upper case.
`TRANSLATE INTO LOWER CASE`	Lower Case Translation: The content of `operand1` will be translated into lower case.
`TRANSLATE USING operand4`	Translation Table: `operand4` is the translation table to be used for character translation. The table must be of format/length A2, U2 or B2. Note: If for a character to be translated more than one translation is defined in the translation table, the last of these translations applies.
`INVERTED`	INVERTED Option: If you specify the keyword `INVERTED`, the translation table (`operand4`) will be used inverted; that is, the translation direction will be reversed.

Syntax 3 - EXAMINE for Unicode Graphemes

`EXAMINE` [`FULL` [`VALUE` [`OF`]]]		`operand1` `SUBSTRING` (`operand1,operand2,operand3`)
[`POSITION-clause`]
[`FOR`]		`CHARPOSITION` `operand4` `CHARLENGTH` `operand5` `CHARPOSITION` `operand4` `CHARLENGTH` `operand5`
[`GIVING`] `POSITION IN` `operand6` [[`GIVING`] `LENGTH IN` `operand7`]

For an explanation of the symbols used in the syntax diagram, see Syntax Symbols.

Syntax Description - Syntax 3

A "grapheme" is what a user normally thinks of as a character. In most cases, a UTF-16 code unit (= U format character) is a grapheme, however, a grapheme can also consist of several code units. Examples are: a sequence of a base character followed by combining characters or a surrogate pair. For more information on graphemes and other Unicode terms, see The Unicode Standard at http://www.unicode.org/.

The EXAMINE statement for U format operands in general operates on code units. However, with the CHARPOSITION and CHARLENGTH clauses it is possible to obtain the starting position and length (in terms of code units) of a graphemes sequence. The returned code unit values can then be used in other statements/clauses which require code unit operands (for example, in a SUBSTRING clause).

For further information on this syntax of the EXAMINE statement, see also Unicode and Code Page Support in the Natural Programming Language, section Statements, EXAMINE.

Operand Definition Table:

Operand	Possible Structure			Possible Formats					Referencing Permitted	Dynamic Definition
`operand1`	C	S	A	U					yes	no
`operand2`	C	S			N	P	I	B*	yes	no
`operand3`	C	S			N	P	I	B*	yes	no
`operand4`	C	S			N	P	I		yes	no
`operand5`	C	S			N	P	I		yes	no
`operand6`	C	S			N	P	I		yes	no
`operand7`	C	S			N	P	I		yes	no

* Format B of operand2 and operand3 may be used only with a length of less than or equal to 4.

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element	Description
`FULL`	FULL Option: If `FULL` is specified for an operand, the entire value, including trailing blanks, will be processed. If `FULL` is not specified, trailing blanks in the operand will be ignored.
`SUBSTRING` `operand1operand2operand3`	SUBSTRING Clause: Normally, the content of a field is examined from the beginning of the field to the end or to the last non-blank character. With the `SUBSTRING` option, you examine only a certain part of the field. After the field name (`operand1`) in the `SUBSTRING` clause, you specify first the starting position (`operand2`) and then the length (`operand3`) of the field portion to be examined. `operand2` and `operand3` are specified in terms of code units. For example, to examine the 5th to 12th position inclusive of a field `#A`, you would specify: EXAMINE SUBSTRING (#A,5,8) Notes: If you omit `operand2`, the starting position is assumed to be `1`. If you omit `operand3`, the length is assumed to be from the starting position to the end of the field. If `SUBSTRING` is used in conjunction with a `DYNAMIC` variable, the field behaves like a fixed length variable; that is, the length (`*LENGTH`) does not change as a result of the `EXAMINE` operation, regardless of whether a `DELETE` or `REPLACE` operation was executed or not.
`POSITION-clause`	POSITION Clause: `FROM` and `THRU` positions are given in terms of code units. For further information, see POSITION Clause under Syntax 1.
`CHARPOSITION operand4`	CHARPOSITION Clause: `operand4` defines the starting position (in terms of Unicode graphemes) of the grapheme sequence. The according position in terms of code units is returned in `operand6`. This clause can be omitted if the `CHARLENGTH` clause is specified; in this case the starting position 1 is assumed.
`CHARLENGTH operand5`	CHARLENGTH Clause: `operand5` defines the length (in terms of Unicode graphemes) of the grapheme sequence. The length of the grapheme sequence in terms of code units is returned in `operand7`. This clause can be omitted if the `CHARPOSITION` clause is specified; in this case the length from the starting position up to the end of the string is returned.
`GIVING POSITION IN operand6`	GIVING POSITION Clause: `operand6` receives the starting position (in terms of code units) of the grapheme sequence defined by `operand4` and `operand5`. If `operand1` has less than `operand4` graphemes, 0 is returned. This clause can be omitted if the `GIVING LENGTH` clause is specified.
`GIVING LENGTH IN operand7`	GIVING LENGTH Clause: `operand7` receives the length (in terms of code units) of the grapheme sequence defined by `operand4` and `operand5`. If `operand1` has less than `operand4`+`operand5` graphemes, 0 is returned. This clause can be omitted if the `GIVING POSITION` clause is specified.

Notes:

Either the CHARPOSITION or the CHARLENGTH clause or both must be specified.
Either the GIVING POSITION or GIVING LENGTH clause or both must be specified.

Examples

Example 1 - EXAMINE
Example 2 - EXAMINE TRANSLATE
Example 3 - EXAMINE AND REPLACE WITH MULTIPLE VALUES
Example 4 - EXAMINE for Unicode Graphemes

Example 1 - EXAMINE

** Example 'EXMEX1': EXAMINE                                            
************************************************************************
DEFINE DATA LOCAL                                                       
1 #TEXT   (A45)                                                         
1 #ARRAY  (A5/1:3)                                                      
1 #A      (A3)                                                          
1 #START  (N2)                                                          
1 #NUM    (N2)                                                          
1 #NUM1   (N2)                                                          
1 #NUM2   (N2)                                                          
1 #NUM3   (N2)                                                          
1 #POS    (N2)                                                          
1 #POS1   (N2)                                                          
1 #LENG   (N2)                                                          
1 #INDEX  (N2)                                                          
END-DEFINE                                                              
*                                                                       
MOVE 'ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C- ' TO #TEXT           
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 1  (DELIMITER, GIVING NUMBER)'                         
WRITE NOTITLE '#TEXT: ' #TEXT                                           
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' GIVING NUMBER #NUM1                               
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' WITH DELIMITER GIVING NUMBER #NUM2                
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' WITH DELIMITER '.' GIVING NUMBER #NUM3            
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR "A" ' 57T 'Number found:' #NUM1                
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR "A" WITH DELIMITER' 57T 'Number found:' #NUM2  
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR "A" WITH DELIMITER "."'                        
  57T 'Number found:' #NUM3                                             
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 2  (DELIMITER, REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)'                
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR "A" WITH DELIMITER "-" REPLACE WITH "*"'       
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' WITH DELIMITER '-' REPLACE WITH '*'               
        GIVING NUMBER #NUM                                              
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Number found:' #NUM                          
*                                                                       
*                                                                       
NEWPAGE                                                                 
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 3  (REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)'                           
WRITE 'EXAMINE      #TEXT FOR " " REPLACE WITH "+"'                     
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR ' ' REPLACE WITH '+' GIVING NUMBER #NUM               
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Number found:' #NUM                          
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 4  (FULL, REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)'                     
WRITE 'EXAMINE FULL #TEXT FOR " " REPLACE WITH "+"'                     
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE FULL #TEXT FOR ' ' REPLACE WITH '+' GIVING NUMBER #NUM          
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Number found:' #NUM                          
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 5  (DELETE, GIVING POSITION)'                          
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR "+" DELETE GIVING POSITION #POS'               
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR '+' DELETE GIVING POSITION #POS                       
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Position found:' #POS                        
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 6  (DELETE, GIVING LENGTH)'                            
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR "A" DELETE GIVING LENGTH #LENG'                
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' DELETE GIVING LENGTH #LENG                        
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Length found:' #LENG                         
*                                                                       
*                                                                       
NEWPAGE                                                                 
*                                                                       
MOVE 'ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C- ' TO #TEXT           
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 7  (PATTERN, REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)'                  
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR         ".A." AND REPLACE "***"'               
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR         '.A.' AND REPLACE '***' GIVING NUMBER #NUM    
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Number found:' #NUM                          
*                                                                       
MOVE 'ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C- ' TO #TEXT           
*                                                                       
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR PATTERN ".A." AND REPLACE "***"'               
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR PATTERN '.A.' AND REPLACE '***' GIVING NUMBER #NUM    
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Number found:' #NUM                          
*                                                                       
MOVE 'ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C- ' TO #TEXT           
*                                                                       
#A   := 'B C'                                                           
#POS := 6                                                               
#LENG:= 25                                                              
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 8  (SUBSTRING, REPLACE, GIVING POSITION)'              
WRITE '#A := "B C" ; #POS := 6 ; #LENG:= 25 '                           
WRITE 'EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#TEXT,#POS,#LENG) FOR #A AND REPLACE "***"'    
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#TEXT,#POS,#LENG) FOR #A AND REPLACE '***'            
        GIVING POSITION #POS1                                           
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT 57T 'Position found:' #POS1                       
*                                                                       
*                                                                       
NEWPAGE                                                                 
*                                                                       
MOVE 'ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C- ' TO #TEXT           
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 9  (DELETE, GIVING NUMBER, GIVING POSITION, '-         
        'GIVING LENGTH)'                                                
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT FOR "." DELETE GIVING NUMBER   #NUM'               
WRITE 30T 'GIVING POSITION #POS'                                        
WRITE 30T 'GIVING LENGTH   #LENG'                                       
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR '.' DELETE GIVING NUMBER #NUM                         
                             GIVING POSITION #POS                              
                             GIVING LENGTH   #LENG                             
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT                                                   
WRITE 'Number found:  ' #NUM                                            
WRITE 'Position found:' #POS                                            
WRITE 'Length found:  ' #LENG                                           
*                                                                       
*                                                                       
*                                                                       
MOVE 'ABC  ' TO #ARRAY (1)                                              
MOVE '.A.B.' TO #ARRAY (2)                                              
MOVE '-A-B-' TO #ARRAY (3)                                              
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 10 (GIVING NUMBER, GIVING POSITION, GIVING INDEX)'     
WRITE '#ARRAY(1):' #ARRAY(1)                                            
WRITE '#ARRAY(2):' #ARRAY(2)                                            
WRITE '#ARRAY(3):' #ARRAY(3)                                            
WRITE 'EXAMINE #ARRAY(*) FOR "B" GIVING NUMBER   #NUM'                  
WRITE 27T 'GIVING POSITION #POS'                                        
WRITE 27T 'GIVING INDEX    #INDEX'                                      
EXAMINE #ARRAY(*) FOR 'B' GIVING NUMBER   #NUM                          
                          GIVING POSITION #POS                          
                          GIVING INDEX    #INDEX                        
WRITE 'Number found:  ' #NUM                                            
WRITE 'Position found:' #POS                                            
WRITE 'Index found:   ' #INDEX                                          
END

Output of Program EXMEX1:

EXAMPLE 1  (DELIMITER, GIVING NUMBER)                                     
#TEXT:  ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-                      
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A'                                   Number found:   4 
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' WITH DELIMITER                    Number found:   3 
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' WITH DELIMITER '.'                Number found:   1 
                                                                          
EXAMPLE 2  (DELIMITER, REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)                            
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' WITH DELIMITER '-' REPLACE WITH '*'                 
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-                      
After:  ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -*-  -B-  -C-    Number found:   1 

EXAMPLE 3  (REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)                                         
EXAMINE      #TEXT FOR ' ' REPLACE WITH '+'                                 
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -*-  -B-  -C-                        
After:  ABC+++A+B+C+++.A.++.B.++.C.++++-*-++-B-++-C-    Number found:  20   
                                                                            
EXAMPLE 4  (FULL, REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)                                   
EXAMINE FULL #TEXT FOR ' ' REPLACE WITH '+'                                 
Before: ABC+++A+B+C+++.A.++.B.++.C.++++-*-++-B-++-C-                        
After:  ABC+++A+B+C+++.A.++.B.++.C.++++-*-++-B-++-C-+   Number found:   1   
                                                                            
EXAMPLE 5  (DELETE, GIVING POSITION)                                        
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR '+' DELETE GIVING POSITION #POS                           
Before: ABC+++A+B+C+++.A.++.B.++.C.++++-*-++-B-++-C-+                       
After:  ABCABC.A..B..C.-*--B--C-                        Position found:   4 
                                                                            
EXAMPLE 6  (DELETE, GIVING LENGTH)                                          
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR 'A' DELETE GIVING LENGTH #LENG                            
Before: ABCABC.A..B..C.-*--B--C-                                            
After:  BCBC...B..C.-*--B--C-                           Length found:  21   

EXAMPLE 7  (PATTERN, REPLACE, GIVING NUMBER)                                
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR         '.A.' AND REPLACE '***'                           
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-                        
After:  ABC   A B C   ***  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-    Number found:   1   
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR PATTERN '.A.' AND REPLACE '***'                           
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-                        
After:  ABC  ***B C   ***  .B.  .C.    ***  -B-  -C-    Number found:   3   
                                                                            
EXAMPLE 8  (SUBSTRING, REPLACE, GIVING POSITION)                            
#A := 'B C' ; #POS := 6 ; #LENG:= 25                                        
EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#TEXT,#POS,#LENG) FOR #A AND REPLACE '***'                
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-                        
After:  ABC   A ***   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-    Position found:   4 

EXAMPLE 9  (DELETE, GIVING NUMBER, GIVING POSITION, GIVING LENGTH)
EXAMINE #TEXT FOR '.' DELETE GIVING NUMBER   #NUM                 
                             GIVING POSITION #POS                 
                             GIVING LENGTH   #LENG                
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-              
After:  ABC   A B C   A  B  C    -A-  -B-  -C-                    
Number found:     6                                               
Position found:  15                                               
Length found:    38                                               
                                                                  
EXAMPLE 10 (GIVING NUMBER, GIVING POSITION, GIVING INDEX)         
#ARRAY(1): ABC                                                    
#ARRAY(2): .A.B.                                                  
#ARRAY(3): -A-B-                                                  
EXAMINE #ARRAY(*) FOR 'B' GIVING NUMBER   #NUM                    
                          GIVING POSITION #POS                    
                          GIVING INDEX    #INDEX                  
Number found:     3                                               
Position found:   2                                               
Index found:      1

Example 2 - EXAMINE TRANSLATE

** Example 'EXMEX2': EXAMINE TRANSLATE                                  
************************************************************************
DEFINE DATA LOCAL                                                       
1 #TEXT  (A50)                                                          
1 #TAB   (A2/1:10)                                                      
1 #POS   (N2)                                                           
1 #LENG  (N2)                                                           
END-DEFINE                                                              
*                                                                       
MOVE 'ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C- ' TO #TEXT           
*                                                                       
MOVE 'AX' TO #TAB(1)                                                    
MOVE 'BY' TO #TAB(2)                                                    
MOVE 'CZ' TO #TAB(3)                                                    
*                                                                       
*                                                                       
WRITE NOTITLE / 'EXAMPLE 1  (WITH TRANSLATION TABLE)'                   
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT TRANSLATE USING #TAB(*)'                           
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT TRANSLATE USING #TAB(*)    
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT                                                   
*                                                                       
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 2  (WITH INVERTED TRANSLATION TABLE)'                  
WRITE 'EXAMINE #TEXT TRANSLATE USING INVERTED #TAB(*)'                  
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                                                   
EXAMINE #TEXT TRANSLATE USING INVERTED #TAB(*)
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT                                                
*                                                                    
#POS := 13                                                           
#LENG:= 15                                                           
*                                                                    
WRITE / 'EXAMPLE 3  (WITH LOWER CASE TRANSLATION)'                   
WRITE '#POS := 13 ; #LENG:= 15 '                                     
WRITE 'EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#TEXT,#POS,#LENG) TRANSLATE INTO LOWER CASE'
WRITE 'Before:' #TEXT                             
EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#TEXT,#POS,#LENG) TRANSLATE INTO LOWER CASE
WRITE 'After: ' #TEXT
*                    
END

Output of Program EXMEX2:

EXAMPLE 1  (WITH TRANSLATION TABLE)                           
EXAMINE #TEXT TRANSLATE USING #TAB(*)                         
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-          
After:  XYZ   X Y Z   .X.  .Y.  .Z.    -X-  -Y-  -Z-          
                                                              
EXAMPLE 2  (WITH INVERTED TRANSLATION TABLE)                  
EXAMINE #TEXT TRANSLATE USING INVERTED #TAB(*)                
Before: XYZ   X Y Z   .X.  .Y.  .Z.    -X-  -Y-  -Z-          
After:  ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-          
                                                              
EXAMPLE 3  (WITH LOWER CASE TRANSLATION)                      
#POS := 13 ; #LENG:= 15                                       
EXAMINE SUBSTRING(#TEXT,#POS,#LENG) TRANSLATE INTO LOWER CASE 
Before: ABC   A B C   .A.  .B.  .C.    -A-  -B-  -C-          
After:  ABC   A B C   .a.  .b.  .c.    -A-  -B-  -C-

Example 3 - EXAMINE AND REPLACE WITH MULTIPLE VALUES

*  EXAMPLE 'EXMEX3': EXAMINE AND REPLACE WITH MULTIPLE VALUES                      
************************************************************************           
* This example shows a translation of the pattern                                  
* 'AA', 'Aa' and 'aA' into '++',                                                   
* 'BB', 'Bb' and 'bB' into '--' and                                                
* 'CC', 'Cc' and 'cC' into '**'.                                                   
************************************************************************           
DEFINE DATA LOCAL                                                                  
1 #SV     (A2/1:3,1:3) INIT (1,V) <'AA','BB','CC'>                           
                            (2,V) <'Aa','Bb','Cc'>                           
                            (3,V) <'aA','bB','cC'>                           
1 #RV     (A2/1:3)     INIT       <'++','--','**'>                           
1 #STRING (A20)        INIT <'AAABbbbbBCCCcccCaaaA'>                         
1 #NUM    (N2)                                                                     
END-DEFINE                                                                         
*                                                                                  
*                                                                                  
WRITE NOTITLE / 'EXAMINE #STRING FOR #SV(*,*) AND REPLACE WITH #RV(*)' /           
*                                                                                  
WRITE 'Before:' #STRING   /* shows   'AAABbbbbBCCCcccCaaaA'                        
*                                                                                  
EXAMINE #STRING FOR #SV(*,*) AND REPLACE WITH #RV(*)
        GIVING NUMBER #NUM                          
*                                                                                  
WRITE 'After: ' #STRING   /* shows   '++A--bb--****c**aa++'                        
  40T 'Number found:' #NUM                                                         
*

Output of Program EXMEX3:

EXAMINE #STRING FOR #SV(*,*) AND REPLACE WITH #RV(*)     
                                                         
Before: AAABbbbbBCCCcccCaaaA                             
After:  ++A--bb--****c**aa++           Number found:   7

Example 4 - EXAMINE for Unicode Graphemes

This example demonstrates the analysis of a Unicode string containing the characters ä und ü. Both characters are defined as base character followed by a combining character: ä is coded with U+0061 followed by U+0308, and ü is coded with U+0075 followed by U+0308.

DEFINE DATA LOCAL                                         
1 #U (U20)                                                
1 #START (I2)                                             
1 #POS (I2)                                               
1 #LEN (I2)                                               
END-DEFINE                                                
#U := U'AB'-UH'00610308'-U'CD'-UH'00750308'-U'EF'         
*                                                         
REPEAT                                                    
  #START := #START + 1                                    
  EXAMINE #U FOR CHARPOSITION #START                      
                   CHARLENGTH      1                      
              GIVING POSITION IN #POS                     
                       LENGTH IN #LEN                     
*                                                         
  INPUT (AD=O) MARK POSITION #POS IN FIELD *#U            
    '         UNICODE-STRING:' #U     (AD=MI)             
 // '          CHARACTER NO.:' #START (EM=9)              
  / 'STARTS AT BYTE POSITION:' #POS   (EM=9)              
  / '      AND THE LENGTH IS:' #LEN   (EM=9)              
WHILE #POS NE 0                                           
END-REPEAT                                                
END

Output:

Mainframe Environments:	Windows, UNIX and OpenVMS Environments (with Natural Web I/O Interface):
UNICODE-STRING: ABa?CDu?EF CHARACTER NO.: 1 STARTS AT BYTE POSITION: 1 AND THE LENGTH IS: 1	UNICODE-STRING: ABäCDüEF CHARACTER NO.: 1 STARTS AT BYTE POSITION: 1 AND THE LENGTH IS: 1
Press ENTER to continue.	Press ENTER to continue.
UNICODE-STRING: ABa?CDu?EF CHARACTER NO.: 2 STARTS AT BYTE POSITION: 2 AND THE LENGTH IS: 1	UNICODE-STRING: ABäCDüEF CHARACTER NO.: 2 STARTS AT BYTE POSITION: 2 AND THE LENGTH IS: 1
Press ENTER to continue.	Press ENTER to continue.
Note that the character in position 3 is a combining character sequence and is two code units long.
UNICODE-STRING: AB<b>a</b>?CDu?EF CHARACTER NO.: 3 STARTS AT BYTE POSITION: 3 AND THE LENGTH IS: 2	UNICODE-STRING: AB<b>ä</b>CDüEF CHARACTER NO.: 3 STARTS AT BYTE POSITION: 3 AND THE LENGTH IS: 2
And so on.	And so on.