4.40 fixlen - Convert of Fixed Length String

Format 1: length( $str$ ,length,position,padding character)

Format 2: lengthw( $str$ ,length,position,padding character)

Convert $str$ to fixed length string. Specify padding characters for left justified or right justified $str$ if it is less than specified length. Specify the justification using "L" or "R" in the “position” parameter. Define the character to be embedded in the “padding character” parameter. Note that if the length of $str$ exceeds the defined length, the ending characters for right justified character strings or beginning characters for left justified character strings will be cut off.

Use fixlenw function for fixed-length conversion on multi-byte characters.

Examples

Example 1: Basic Example

Convert values in the str column to 5 character fixed-length string. Right justified ("R") the strings and fill the empty positions with "#" for strings with less than 5 characters.

$ more dat1.csv
id,str
1,abc
2,123
3,
4,1234567
$ mcal c='fixlen($s{str},5,"R","#")' a=rsl i=dat1.csv o=rsl1.csv
#END# kgcal a=rsl c=fixlen($s{str},5,"R","#") i=dat1.csv o=rsl1.csv
$ more rsl1.csv
id,str,rsl
1,abc,##abc
2,123,##123
3,,#####
4,1234567,34567

Example 2: Left justified

Fill empty positions for left justified ("L") text with "#".

$ mcal c='fixlen($s{str},5,"L","#")' a=rsl i=dat1.csv o=rsl2.csv
#END# kgcal a=rsl c=fixlen($s{str},5,"L","#") i=dat1.csv o=rsl2.csv
$ more rsl2.csv
id,str,rsl
1,abc,abc##
2,123,123##
3,,#####
4,1234567,12345