EXAMINE

This document covers the following topics:

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

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]

../graphics/cbo3.gif

 DELETE-REPLACE-clause

../graphics/cbc3.gif
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. For general information on DYNAMIC variables, see the section Large and Dynamic Variables/Fields.

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:

  1. If you omit operand2, the starting position is assumed to be 1.
  2. If you omit operand3, the length is assumed to be from the starting position to the end of the field.
  3. 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 'NAT*AL' 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)

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] [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:

  1. If the REPLACE operation results in more characters being generated than will fit into operand1, you will receive an error message.
  2. 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

See also Example 3 - EXAMINE AND REPLACE WITH MULTIPLE VALUES.

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

[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   S         N P I                 yes no
operand7   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 operand1 operand2 operand3
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:

  1. If you omit operand2, the starting position is assumed to be 1.
  2. If you omit operand3, the length is assumed to be from the starting position to the end of the field.
  3. 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:

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

Examples

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.