I'm trying to pass in a value from a table into a variable using -READ for a header

 TABLE FILE METRIC
BY METRIC_NAME
WHERE METRIC_CODE EQ '&METRIC'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HEADER
END
-RUN
-READ HEADER, &HEADER.A50. 

Everything works perfectly, except when I check the value of &HEADER, a hyphen shows up at the beginning. If I expect 'foo', I instead get '-foo'. Why is this happening, and how would I fix this?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ccollier,

Hello,

Can you try this.

TABLE FILE CAR
BY CAR
WHERE CAR EQ 'BMW'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HEADER FORMAT ALPHA
END
-RUN
-READ HEADER &VAR_NAME.A11


-TYPE &VAR_NAME

Ccollier

Try -READFILE HEADER

The variable name will be &METRIC_NAME

If you use -READFILE, you will need to prime the variable so it doesn't get prompted.

Does METRIC_NAME is a variable field length such as A50V ?

Try with this

TABLE FILE METRIC
BY METRIC_NAME/A50
WHERE METRIC_CODE EQ '&METRIC'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HEADER
END
-RUN
-READ HEADER, &HEADER.A50. 

But as mentioned already, you should better use READFILE

TABLE FILE METRIC
BY METRIC_NAME/A50
WHERE METRIC_CODE EQ '&METRIC'
ON TABLE HOLD AS HEADER
END
-RUN
-READFILE HEADER
-DEFAULTH &METRIC_NAME = ''

As you guy said, using the -READFILE worked properly. Thanks!

Beware of changing the format in the TABLE request. See:

  
TABLE FILE CAR
BY COUNTRY/A20
ON TABLE HOLD
END
?FF HOLD
-RUN
-READFILE HOLD
-TYPE &COUNTRY &COUNTRY.LENGTH

-* Output:

  
 0 NUMBER OF RECORDS IN TABLE=        5  LINES=      5
 FILENAME=  HOLD
 COUNTRY       E01           A20
 COUNTRY       E02           A10
 ENGLAND    10

However:

  
TABLE FILE CAR
BY COUNTRY/A20
ON TABLE SET HOLDLIST PRINTONLY
ON TABLE HOLD
END
?FF HOLD
-RUN
-READFILE HOLD
-TYPE &COUNTRY &COUNTRY.LENGTH
-* output
 0 NUMBER OF RECORDS IN TABLE=        5  LINES=      5
 FILENAME=  HOLD
 COUNTRY       E01           A20
 ENGLAND              20