A function to facilitate the addition of a leading character to a field value. The function takes three parameters:
- &LEADCHAR: The character you want to append to your value.
- &FIELDZISE: The over all size of your value after appending your desired character.
- &FIELDVALUE: The value you want to append the character to.
Function add_leading_char(&LEADCHAR, &FIELDSIZE, &FIELDVALUE, &RESULTFIELD);
/*this function accepts a character value, fieldsize parameter, and a field value parameter and adds a leading character up to the size of the field. The result is passed back in a result field.*/
&LEADCHAR = Left(&LEADCHAR, 1);
&FIELDVALUE = String(&FIELDVALUE);
&FIELDLEN = Len(&FIELDVALUE);
&FIELDFILL = &FIELDSIZE - &FIELDLEN;
&LEFT_HALF = Rept(&LEADCHAR, &FIELDFILL);
&RESULTFIELD = &LEFT_HALF | &FIELDVALUE;
End-Function;
/*Example calling the above function*/
&CHAR = "0";
&FIELDSIZE = 5;
&FIELDVALUE = 7;
add_leading_char(&CHAR, &FIELDSIZE, &FIELDVALUE, &RESULTFIELD);
/*after execution, the &RESULTFIELD value would be equal to 00007*/