Scan a CL Variable (CLSCAN)

The Scan a CL Variable (CLSCAN) command scans a CL variable for the specified pattern and returns its location to another CL variable.

Restrictions:

This command only runs in a CL program or module.

Parameters

Keyword	Description	Choices	Notes
PATTERN	Search for pattern	Character value	Required, Positional 1
SCHDATA	Data or CL variable to search	Character value	Required, Positional 2
CASE	Match upper/lower case	MATCH, IGNORE, YES, NO	Optional, Positional 3
START	Start searching in position	Integer, 1	Optional, Positional 4
LEN	Max chars to search from Start	Integer, *END	Optional, Positional 5
RTNPOS	CL-var to receive position	Not restricted	Optional, Positional 6
RTNCHAR	Char CL-var for position	Character value	Optional, Positional 7

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Data or CL variable to search (SCHDATA)

Specify the string or CL variable to be searched for the pattern. This parameter has a maximum length of 5000 characters.

This is a required parameter.

Match upper/lower case (CASE)

Specifies whether a case-sensitive scan is performed.

*MATCH: The scan is case-sensitive. The upper/lower case pattern must be exactly as is appears in the searched data (SCHDATA) parameter.
*IGNORE: The scan is case-insensitive. Upper/Lower case differences between the pattern and the searched data are ignored.
*YES: This is an alias for CASE(*MATCH)
*NO: This is an alias for CASE(*IGNORE)

Start searching in position (START)

Specify the starting position where the scan is to begin. This value identifies the first character of the searched data that is scanned for the pattern.

1: The default is position 1 (the first position of the searched data).
integer: Specify the position within the searched data to begin the scan. If this value is greater than the length of the searched data then the scan will return zero.

Max chars to search from Start (LEN)

Specify the number of characters of the searched data value to be scanned, starting from the START value.

*END: All characters from the position identified in the START parameter through the end of the variable are scanned.
integer: Specify the number of characters to be scanned in the searched data.

CL-var to receive position (RTNPOS)

Specify a CL variable to receive the scan position if the scan pattern is located in the searched data.

unrestricted-value: Specify any numeric CL variable; any length any type to receive the found position.

Char CL-var for position (RTNCHAR)

Specify an optional CL variable of TYPE(*CHAR) that receives the found position as left-justified text. This is provided to avoid that additional step often necessary with numeric to character CL conversions.

character-value: Specify the CL variable of TYPE(*CHAR) that receives the found position.

Examples for CLSCAN

Example 1:Case Insensitive CLSCAN

DCL  &POS TYPE(*DEC) LEN(7 0)
CLSCAN  PATTERN('company') SCHDATA(&COMPNAME) CASE(*IGNORE)
          RTNPOS(&POS)

This command performs a case insensitive scan of the &COMPNAME CL variable for the word 'company' and if found, returns the location to the &POS CL variable.

Example 2: More Complex CLSCAN Example

DCL  &POS TYPE(*DEC) LEN(7 0)
DCL  &POSA TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(5)
CLSCAN  PATTERN('company') SCHDATA(&COMPNAME) START(5) LEN(16)
          RTNPOS(&POS) RTNCHAR(&POSA)

This command performs a case-sensitive scan beginning in position 5 of &COMPNAME through position 20 (Pos 5 + Len(16) = Pos 5 to 20) and if found, returns the position as numeric to the &POS variable and as left-justified text to the &POSA variable.