How to do Space trimming for an alphanumeric file : Natural Version:3.1

, ,
1

I have a 4000 fixed length file in whcih the fields are “|” delimited .I need to COMPRESS the fields ans make it variable length “|” delimited.Currently i am not able to use EXAMINE and COMPRESS for the same as the maximum length allowed in this version for an elementary variable in 253 . Alpha-253 and EXAMINE and COMPRESS does not work on group vairable .

2

How about:


DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #RECORD (A4000)
1 #A (A/2000) DYNAMIC
1 #B (A) DYNAMIC
END-DEFINE
*
READ WORK FILE 1 #RECORD
  SEPARATE #RECORD INTO #A(*) WITH DELIMITERS '|'
  COMPRESS #A(*) INTO #B WITH DELIMITERS '|'
  WRITE WORK FILE 2 VARIABLE #B
END-READ
END
3

Natural 3.1! Yikes!! Jerome seems to have missed that detail, because DYNAMIC variables weren’t available until Natural 4.

Here’s a solution that uses a vector, but be warned that it will burn a bit of CPU. I used Natural 6.3, so you’ll have to verify its results in your own environment - I offer neither guarantees nor warranties.

DEFINE DATA LOCAL
1 #MAX (I4)        CONST <50>     /* record length
1 #R (A1/#MAX)     
                   1 REDEFINE #R  /* debug
  2 #REC (A50)                    /* debug
1 #T (A1/#MAX)
1 #I (I4)
1 #J (I4)
1 #C (I4)
END-DEFINE
DEFINE WORK FILE 1 'c:\ProgramData\Software AG\Natural\Natapps\Fuser\'
                 - 'Open-Src\Res\COMPREC.TXT'
READ WORK 1 #R (*)
  WRITE 'Before:' #REC            /* debug
  /*
  FOR #I = 1 #MAX                 /* right-to-left
    ASSIGN #J      = #MAX - #I + 1
    ASSIGN #T (#J) = #R (#I)
  END-FOR
  /*
  ASSIGN #I = 1
  ASSIGN #J = #MAX
  REPEAT                          /* compress
    IF   #T (#I)     = '|'
     AND #T (#I + 1) = ' '
      THEN
        ASSIGN #T (#I + 1 : #MAX - 1) = #T (#I + 2 : #MAX)
        RESET  #T (#MAX)
      ELSE
        ADD 1 TO #I
    END-IF
    IF  #I >= #MAX
     OR #I >= #J
      THEN
        ESCAPE BOTTOM
    END-IF
  END-REPEAT
  /*
  FOR #C = #MAX 1 -1              /* record length
    IF  #T (#C) <> ' '
      THEN
        ESCAPE BOTTOM
    END-IF
  END-FOR
  RESET #R (*)
        #J
  FOR #I = 1 #C                   /* left-to-right
    ASSIGN #J      = #C - #I + 1
    ASSIGN #R (#J) = #T (#I)
  END-FOR
  WRITE ' After:' #REC /          /* debug
  /* WRITE WORK 2 VARIABLE #R (1:#C)   /* <<<
END-WORK
END
Page     1                                                   10/21/11  12:03:26
 
  Before: 123  | abcd  |456      |       |        |
   After: 123| abcd|456|||
 
  Before: 123  |abcd  |456      |       |        |        |
   After: 123|abcd|456||||

Push for a Natural upgrade, Aseem. Jerome’s solution demonstrates several ways in which the language has improved, but there are many more.

4

thanks