CHARACTER Function

Purpose

Converts an arithmetic or string value to a character string.

Syntax

CHARACTER(s)

or

CHARACTER(s, l)

Abbreviation(s): CHAR for CHARACTER.

Parameters

s is an arithmetic or string value, and l is a positive integer value.

Description

The CHARACTER function converts an arithmetic or string value s to a character string of an optionally specified length l. s is first converted to a character string whose length is determined by the rules for data type conversion given in the chapter Data Type Conversions. Then, if l is given, s is either truncated on the right or extended on the right with blanks to be l characters long.

Examples

DECLARE X FIXED BINARY (15);
DECLARE Y CHARACTER(14) VARYING;
X = 2;
Y = CHARACTER(X);
PUT LIST ('$'||Y);      /* $    2 */

Restrictions

The CHARACTER function does not support unaligned BIT(n) parameters.