Re: [spam] Re: Why you shouldn't be afraid to use VARCHAR in RPGLE

You might like to test it your examples, Daniel. I cannot get them to 
compile unless I code:

dcl-c #LEN Const(200);
dcl-s w_address1 varchar(#LEN) inz;

- which doesn't satisfy Doug's request. (The wording in the manual is 
misleading.)

Brian.

On 06/12/2025 03:12, Daniel Gross wrote:
> AFAIK - I might have to test it - this should be possible:
>
>    dcl-s w_address1 varchar(%len(phaddress1)) inz;
>
> At least it should be possible to define a constant and use this to define your varchar variable:
>
>    dcl-c #LEN %len(phaddress1);
>    dcl-s w_address1 varchar(#LEN) inz;
>
> As long as the expression value is resolvable at compile time. But I'm pretty sure, that also the first form should work.
>
> -> https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.6.0?topic=length-len-used-its-value
>
> And you can also use %LEN to get the maximum size of a VARCHAR variable, simply use:
>
>       %len(varchar_variable:*max)
>
> -> https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.6.0?topic=lgsl-len-used-get-maximum-length-varying-length-expressions
>
> But when %LEN is used in definition statement, it always returns the maximum length of variable length fields like VARCHAR. So it should also work the other way around:
>
>    dcl-s x_address1 char(%len(w_address1)) inz;
>
> HTH
> Daniel
>
>
>> Am 06.12.2025 um 03:41 schrieb Jon Paris <[email protected]>:
>>
>> Not quite, Charles.  $SIZE returns the storage required to hold the field - it's capacity will be 2 or 4 less than that due to the storage used by the length.
>>
>> So:
>>
>> Dcl-S  myVarLen  Varchar(200) Inz;  // %Len = 0, %Size = 202 bytes.
>>
>>
>>
>> Jon Paris
>> [email protected]
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Dec 5, 2025, at 6:08 PM, Charles Wilt <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> LIKE should pick up the both the type and size...
>>>
>>> dcl-s w_address1 like(phaddress1);
>>>
>>> note: %len() on a varchar is always the length of the current value.  The
>>> max size is retrieved using %size().
>>>
>>> HTH,
>>> Charles
>>>
>>>> On Fri, Dec 5, 2025 at 3:28 PM DEnglander--- via RPG400-L <
>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone know how to do something like this:
>>>>
>>>> I would like to define a %TRIMmed disk field that is CHAR(200)
>>>> [PHADDRESS1] as a VARCHAR and eliminate the %TRIMs.
>>>>
>>>> So as not to hardcode the size of the VARCHAR, can I define it as VARCHAR
>>>> but based on the length of the CHAR(200) field? Something like:
>>>>
>>>> dcl-s   w_address1      varchar(%len(phaddress1));
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Can that be done?
>>>>
>>>> Thank you,
>>>>
>>>> Doug
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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