Can some one help me how we can read a master file and compare a value in the master file and append text

i am reading master file
FILEDEF master DISK c:/mymaster.mas (APPEND
-RUN
SET &Text ="some"
-REPEAT TOEND WHILE master conatins &Text
-WRITE master "abcd"
-TOEND

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Kathryn Henning>,

One way to do this type of comparison is to issue the command:

CHECK FILE master_name HOLD

This generates a HOLD file with all the components of the MASTER, which may then be examined with a simple TABLE request.

Siddu,
We need a bit more detail of what you are trying to achieve.
For example, in your -REPEAT you are not reading your "master" so how can you issue a CONTAINS test.

Thanks for your replies sh98110 and danny,
i started to learn focus programming 2 days ago.. what i am trying to accomplish is , i want to read a master file and search for a particular line in the master file and i want to edit (delete or add) some text or add new lines to the master file and save it. I don't know exactly how can i do that. after a lot of struggling i was able to read the master file , but having a hard time comapring the text and modifying it
Below is my sample code :-

-SET &ECHO=ALL;

FILEDEF mymaster DISK mymaster.mas (LRECL 150)
FILEDEF mymaster DISK mymaster.mas (APPEND
-RUN
CHECK FILE mymaster1 HOLD AS testholdfile

TABLE FILE mymaster1
PRINT *
ON TABLE HOLD AS COMPDEP FORMAT ALPHA
END
-RUN
-SET &MAS_COUNT = &LINES;
-REPEAT :MAS_READ FOR &I FROM 1 TO &MAS_COUNT;
-READ mymaster &Text.&I.A150
-TYPE text =&Text.&I.A150
-:MAS_READ

From the above code i can read the master file and i can display it using text variable , next i used IF &Text.&I.A150 EQ " some text" to compare it but i am having UNRECOGNIZED COMMAND IF error

how can i modify the when it matches the text , i know java programming we can use if(text ="someText"){
----logic to modify
}

how can we do it in focus programming

Any help would be appreciated

Thank you

My question is: Why would you want to add or delete lines from a master file? Since it describes your data surely you are going to have a problem if you mess with it.

On the other hand, if you are creating a new master starting with an old one, why not just copy it and then edit the copy?

This is another of those situations where knowing what the fianl objective is would help a lot in providing the most appropriate solution.

quote:

Why would you want to add or delete lines from a master file? Since it describes your data surely you are going to have a problem if you mess with it.

True.

Are you trying some sample code or something for file reading, writing etc. ?

This is the last thing someone with two days of FOCUS programming knowledge needs to do.