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Status Delivered
Workspace IBM i
Categories Languages - RPG
Created by Guest
Created on Oct 29, 2021

%split() should return an empty element where a separator character follows another separator character

In %split() if a separator character follows another separator character, it is ignored. For example, %SPLIT('abc..def' : '.') returns an array with two elements: ('abc','def').

It would be nice if it was possible that an empty element could be returned where a separator character follows another separator character.
This could be implemented if a third parameter *KEEP could be specified.

For example, %SPLIT('abc..def' : '.' : *KEEP) returns an array with three elements: ('abc', '', 'def').


Use Case:

If you are going to split a comma separated string then you can't use %SPLIT() the way it works now because it can't handle the string
'Field 1,,,Field 4' properly. You only get an array with 2 elements.
if you could specify
%SPLIT('Field 1,,,Field 4' : ',' : *KEEP)
then an array with 4 elements would be returned.


Idea priority Low
  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    May 20, 2023
    IBM believes that the solution for the Idea described is available with PTFs provided at the same time as the Spring 2023 Technology Refresh.

    If you specify *ALLSEP as the third operand of %SPLIT, a substring is removed for every separator.

    For documentation on this enhancement, see
    - What's new since 7.5: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ssw_ibm_i_75/rzasl/rpgrelv7r5post.htm
    - What's new since 7.4: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ssw_ibm_i_74/rzasl/rpgrelv7r4post.htm

    For information about the PTFs you need for this enhancement, see https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6982241

    Note: You need a PTF for the RPG runtime on the system where you run a program that uses the *ALLSEP support for %SPLIT.

    - IBM Power Systems Development
  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Jul 11, 2022

    This is needed. I have already my custom proc of course but having this as standard should produce more elegant code.

    I.e. useful for example to parse EDI language where you get multi elements separated by "+" and you need to keep positioning in the splitted string i.e. "LIN+1:3++++TEST++DE+1"

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Nov 18, 2021

    IBM will use this request as input to planning but no commitment is made or implied. This request will be updated in the future if IBM implements it. IBM will use votes and comments from others in the community to help prioritize this request.

    The enhancement would most likely be to add an optional third parameter indicating that all separators should be considered.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Oct 30, 2021

    I think this is needed but perhaps *ALL would be a better choice for the extra parm? Alternatively use a different BIF name rather than overload %split().

1 MERGED

Add option to %SPLIT to allow it to correctly handle (say) CSVs

Merged
The current implementation of %SPLIT ignores consecutive delimiters. For example this CSV string: "ABC,DEF,,GHI" would be treated by CPYIMPF, Excel and other tools as resulting in four values. Using %SPLIT( string : ',' ) results in an array of on...
over 1 year ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 1 Delivered
1 MERGED

Add option to %SPLIT to allow it to correctly handle (say) CSVs

Merged
The current implementation of %SPLIT ignores consecutive delimiters. For example this CSV string: "ABC,DEF,,GHI" would be treated by CPYIMPF, Excel and other tools as resulting in four values. Using %SPLIT( string : ',' ) results in an array of on...
over 1 year ago in IBM i / Languages - RPG 2 Delivered