A period in a template acts as a place holder. The data that corresponds to the
period is not assigned to a variable name. You can use a period as a "dummy
variable" within a group of variables or at the end of a template to collect unwanted
information.
PARSE VALUE 'Value with Periods in it.' WITH pattern . type .
/* pattern contains 'Value' */
/* type contains 'Periods' */
/* the periods replace the words "with" and "in it." */
String
You can use a string in a template to separate data as long as the data includes the
string as well. The string becomes the point of separation and is not included as
data.
phrase = 'To be, or not to be?' /* phrase containing comma */
PARSE VAR phrase part1 ',' part2 /* template containing comma */
/* as string separator */
/* part1 contains 'To be' */
/* part2 contains ' or not to be?' */
In this example, notice that the comma is not included with ’To be ’ because the
comma is the string separator.
Variable
When you do not know in advance what string to specify as separator in a
template, you can use a variable enclosed in parentheses. The variable value must
be included in the data.
separator = ','
phrase = 'To be, or not to be?'
PARSE VAR phrase part1 (separator) part2
/* part1 contains 'To be' */
/* part2 contains ' or not to be?' */
Again, in this example, notice that the comma is not included with ’To be ’ because
the comma is the string separator.
Number
You can use numbers in a template to indicate the column at which to separate
data. An unsigned integer indicates an absolute column position and a signed
integer indicates a relative column position.
v Absolute column position
An unsigned integer or an integer prefixed with an equal sign (=) in a template
separates the data according to absolute column position. The first segment
starts at column 1 and goes up to, but does not include, the information in the
column number specified. The subsequent segments start at the column
numbers specified.
quote = 'Ignorance is bliss.'
....+....1....+....2
PARSE VAR quote part1 5 part2
/* part1 contains 'Igno' */
/* part2 contains 'rance is bliss.' */
This example could have also been coded as follows. Note the explicit use of the
column 1 indicator prior to part1 that was implied in the previous example and
the use of the =5 part2 to indicate the absolute position, column 5.
quote = 'Ignorance is bliss.'
....+....1....+....2
Parsing Data
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z/OS V1R1.0 TSO/E REXX User’s Guide
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