DIVIDE

This document covers the following topics:

Related Statements: ADD | COMPRESS | COMPUTE | EXAMINE | MOVE | MOVE ALL | MULTIPLY | RESET | SEPARATE | SUBTRACT

Belongs to Function Group: Arithmetic and Data Movement Operations

Function

The DIVIDE statement is used to divide two operands.

Note:
Concerning Division by Zero: If an attempt is made to use a divisor (operand1) which is zero, either an error message or a result equal to zero will be returned; this depends on the setting of the session parameter ZD (described in the Parameter Reference documentation).

Syntax 1 - DIVIDE Statement without GIVING Clause

DIVIDE [ROUNDED]  operand1 INTO operand2

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

Operand Definition Table:

Operand Possible Structure Possible Formats Referencing Permitted Dynamic Definition
operand1 C S A   N   N P I F               yes no
operand2 C S A   M   N P I F               yes no

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element Description
operand1 INTO operand2
Operands:

operand1 is the divisor, operand2 is the dividend. The result is stored in operand2 (result field), hence the statement is equivalent to: 

operand2 := operand2 / operand1

The result field may be a database field or a user-defined variable.

If operand2 is a constant or a non-modifiable Natural system variable, the GIVING clause is required.

The number of decimal positions for the result of the division is evaluated from the result field (that is, operand2).

For the precision of the result, see Rules for Arithmetic Assignments, Precision of Results of Arithmetic Operations in the Programming Guide.

ROUNDED
ROUNDED Option:

If you specify the keyword ROUNDED, the result will be rounded.

For information on rounding, see Rules for Arithmetic Assignment, Field Truncation and Field Rounding in the Programming Guide.

Syntax 2 - DIVIDE Statement with GIVING Clause

DIVIDE [ROUNDED]  operand1 INTO operand2 GIVING operand3

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

Operand Definition Table:

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

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

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element Description
operand1 INTO operand2 GIVING operand3
Operands:

operand1 is the divisor, operand2 is the dividend.

The result of the division is stored in operand3, hence the statement is equivalent to: 

operand3 := operand2 / operand1

If a database field is used as the result field, the division only results in an update to the internal value of the field as used within the program. The value for the field in the database remains unchanged.

The number of decimal positions for the result of the division is evaluated from the result field (that is, operand3).

For the precision of the result, see Rules for Arithmetic Assignments, Precision of Results of Arithmetic Operations in the Programming Guide.

ROUNDED
ROUNDED Option:

If you specify the keyword ROUNDED, the result will be rounded.

For information on rounding, see Rules for Arithmetic Assignment, Field Truncation and Field Rounding in the Programming Guide.

Syntax 3 - DIVIDE Statement with REMAINDER Clause

DIVIDE   operand1  INTO operand2  [GIVING   operand3]   REMAINDER   operand4

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

Operand Definition Table:

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

* Format B of operand3 and operand4 may be used only with a length of less than or equal to 4.

Syntax Element Description:

Syntax Element Description

operand1
operand2

Operands:

operand1 is the divisor; that is, the number or quantity by which the dividend is to be divided to produce the quotient.

operand2 is the dividend.

If the GIVING clause is not used, the result is stored in operand2. The result field may be a database field or a user-defined variable.

If operand2 is a constant or a non-modifiable Natural system variable, the GIVING clause is required.

GIVING operand3
GIVING Clause:

If this clause is used, operand2 will not be modified and the result will be stored in operand3.

If a database field is used as the result field, the division only results in an update to the internal value of the field as used within the program. The value for the field in the database remains unchanged.

The number of decimal positions for the result of the division is evaluated from the result field (that is, operand2 if no GIVING clause is used, or operand3 if the GIVING clause is used).

For the precision of the result, see Rules for Arithmetic Assignments, Precision of Results of Arithmetic Operations (in the Programming Guide).

REMAINDER operand4
REMAINDER Clause:

The remainder of the division is placed into the field specified in operand4.

If the GIVING and REMAINDER clause are used together, none of the four operands may be an array range.

Internally, the remainder is computed as follows:

  1. The quotient of the division of operand1 into operand2 is computed.

  2. The quotient is multiplied by operand1.

  3. The product of this multiplication is subtracted from operand2.

  4. The result of this subtraction is assigned to operand4.

For each of these steps, the rules described in Precision of Results of Arithmetic Operations in the Programming Guide apply.

Example 

** Example 'DIVEX1': DIVIDE                                             
************************************************************************
DEFINE DATA LOCAL                                                       
1 #A (N7) INIT <20>                                                     
1 #B (N7)                                                               
1 #C (N3.2)                                                             
1 #D (N1)                                                               
1 #E (N1) INIT <3>                                                      
1 #F (N1)                                                               
END-DEFINE                                                              
*                                                                       
DIVIDE 5 INTO #A                                                      
WRITE NOTITLE 'DIVIDE 5 INTO #A' 20X '=' #A                             
*                                                                       
RESET INITIAL #A                                                        
DIVIDE 5 INTO #A GIVING #B                                          
WRITE 'DIVIDE 5 INTO #A GIVING #B' 10X '=' #B                           
*                                                                       
DIVIDE 3 INTO 3.10 GIVING #C
WRITE 'DIVIDE 3 INTO 3.10 GIVING #C' 8X '=' #C        
*                                                     
DIVIDE 3 INTO 3.1 GIVING #D                     
WRITE 'DIVIDE 3 INTO 3.1 GIVING #D' 9X '=' #D         
*                                                     
DIVIDE 2 INTO #E REMAINDER #F                    
WRITE 'DIVIDE 2 INTO #E REMAINDER #F' 7X '=' #E '=' #F
*                                                     
END

Output of Program DIVEX1:

DIVIDE 5 INTO #A                    #A:        4 
DIVIDE 5 INTO #A GIVING #B          #B:        4 
DIVIDE 3 INTO 3.10 GIVING #C        #C:    1.03  
DIVIDE 3 INTO 3.1 GIVING #D         #D:  1       
DIVIDE 2 INTO #E REMAINDER #F       #E:  1 #F:  1