Trying to scan a text field for multiple prefix's to remove them

Question

I am currently trying to create a program in which a cursor reads in the var char fields of a "description" DB2 table and a cursor that reads the "prefix" var char field from another table. I then need to check each description to see if any of the prefixes exist at the start of the description and if it does, replace it with a single space.

The working storage values for these are:

03 WS-PFIX.
   49 WS-PFIX-LEN   PIC S9(4) COMP.
   49 WS-PFIX-TEXT

03 WS-DESC.
       49 WS-DESC-LEN   PIC S9(4) COMP.
       49 WS-DESC-TEXT  PIC X(100). 

I've tried the following code:

INSPECT WS-DESC-TEXT(1:WS-PFIX-LEN)
REPLACING WS-PFIX-TEXT TO " "

This doesn't work because WS-PFIX-TEXT is fixed at 100 characters so there isn't a match as it includes all of the trailing spaces in the comparison. I also tried this:

INSPECT WS-DESC-TEXT(1:WS-PFIX-LEN)
REPLACING WS-PFIX-TEXT(1:WS-PFIX-LEN) TO " "

But the compiler doesn't like the use of the substring in the REPLACING line.

Does anyone know of any alternatives that can be used to this that will work? I've scoured the internet for ages and can't seem to find anything.

Thanks

Answer 1

There is another issue that would be having even if the substring worked. The text you are inspecting for much match (in length) to the text you are replacing it with.

That being said, you could always do it logically:

03 WS-PFIX.
   49 WS-PFIX-LEN   PIC S9(4) COMP.
   49 WS-PFIX-TEXT  PIC X(100).

03 WS-DESC.
   49 WS-DESC-LEN   PIC S9(4) COMP.
   49 WS-DESC-TEXT  PIC X(100).

03 WS-TEMP.
   49 WS-TEMP-LEN   PIC S9(4) COMP.
   49 WS-TEMP-TEXT  PIC X(100).

MOVE 0      TO WS-TEMP-LEN
MOVE SPACES TO WS-TEMP-TEXT

IF WS-DESC-TEXT(1:WS-PFIX-LEN) = WS-PFIX-TEXT(1:WS-PFIX-LEN)
   ADD 1 TO WS-TEMP-LEN
   MOVE SPACE TO WS-TEMP-TEXT(1:1)
   ADD 1 TO WS-TEMP-LEN
   MOVE WS-DESC-TEXT(WS-PFIX-LEN + 1:) TO WS-TEMP-TEXT(2:)

   COMPUTE
      WS-TEMP-LEN = (WS-DESC-LEN - WS-PFIX-LEN) + 1
   END-COMPUTE
ELSE
   MOVE WS-DESC-TEXT TO WS-TEMP-TEXT
   MOVE WS-DESC-LEN  TO WS-TEMP-LEN
END-IF

MOVE SPACES       TO WS-DESC-TEXT
MOVE 0            TO WS-DESC-LEN

MOVE WS-TEMP-TEXT TO WS-DESC-TEXT
MOVE WS-TEMP-LEN  TO WS-DESC-LEN

The other thing I noticed is that even if your inspect statement did work, the WS-DESC-LEN would be wrong because you replace multiple characters with a single space.

This should do what you want. I have no means to test it, so my counts might be slightly off. This is basically what you want to do though.