I want to replace the occurrences of a string in another string by referencing a fieldname instead of a fixed string value.

As far as I can tell, the STRREP function only allows the entry of a value in the command line, and therefore it can only search for and replace one particular string in all of my records. I would like for this string to change its value according to a particular field that is unique to each record, the record that also contains the string that is the subject of the search and replace.

I know this coding structure works...

COMMENT_B/A375V = STRREP (375,COMMNET_A, 10, 'first name', 10, 'XXXXXXXXXX', 375, COMMENT_B);

...but it limits the value of the string that can be replaced to just one name. Instead, I would like to use the fieldname FIRST_NAME to vary the string value with each record and remove that particular name from the comment text. I have not been able to get the following coding structure to work, but it sort of indicates what I am trying to accomplish.

COMMENT_B/A375V = STRREP (375,COMMNET_A, 10, FIRST_NAME, 10, 'XXXXXXXXXX', 375, COMMENT_B);

I've also considered OVRLAY and some other functions; however, in my case I would need to vary the starting position of the substrings to be replaced by each record, and as far as I can tell those functions require fixed starting positions for each record as well.

It seems relatively straightforward with the STRREP function, but I do not know if it is possible to make WebFOCUS read a variable string value by referencing a fieldname, not to mention whether this is possible within this function. Any suggestions on how this could be accomplished?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jltz83,

Did you try it out.

All seems to work.

Single Char

DEFINE FILE CAR
 CNTR/I9 WITH MODEL = IF LAST CNTR EQ 0 THEN 65 ELSE LAST CNTR + 1 ;
 CHAR/A1 = HEXBYT(CNTR,'A1') ;
 NEWMODEL/A50 = STRREP (24,MODEL,1,CHAR,3,'???', 50,'A50') ;
END
TABLE FILE CAR
 PRINT MODEL
CNTR
CHAR
NEWMODEL
END

Variable Chars

DEFINE FILE CAR
 CNTR/I9 WITH MODEL = IF LAST CNTR EQ 3 THEN 1 ELSE LAST CNTR + 1 ;
 STR/A3 = SUBSTR(24,MODEL,1,CNTR,CNTR,'A3') ;
 NEWMODEL/A50 = STRREP (24,MODEL,ARGLEN(3,STR,'I1'),STR,3,'???', 50,'A50') ;
END
TABLE FILE CAR
 PRINT MODEL
CNTR
STR
NEWMODEL
END

Thank you for the advice!

I ended up using the following:

DEFINE FILE JLTCDV4
CNTR_F/I2 WITH 5LINESB = ARGLEN(12,FIRST_NAMEB,'I2');
CNTR_L/I2 WITH 5LINESB = ARGLEN(12,LAST_NAMEB,'I2');
STR_F/A12 = SUBSTR(12,FIRST_NAMEB,1,CNTR_F,CNTR_F,'A12');
STR_L/A12 = SUBSTR(12,LAST_NAMEB,1,CNTR_L,CNTR_L,'A12');
5LINESC/A375V = STRREP (375,5LINESB, ARGLEN(12, STR_F, 'I2'), STR_F, 5, 'XXXXX', 375, 'A375');
5LINESD/A375V = STRREP (375,5LINESC, ARGLEN(12, STR_L, 'I2'), STR_L, 5, 'XXXXX', 375, 'A375');
END

Can you add [SOLVED] or [CLOSED] to the title of your first post in this thread.

Just click on the folder image with the pencil.