The trim() function removes leading, trailing, and/or redundant characters from a string.
trim(str.exp, {trimchar{,type}})
trim(str.exp, "process.code")
| str.exp | String from which the specified characters are removed. | |
| trimchar | Specifies the specific leading, trailing, or redundant character to trim. If specified, then that character substitutes for the space. | |
| type | If specified, then the trim() behavior can be controlled more specifically. If not specified, then type R is assumed. Available values are: | |
| A | Trim all. | |
| B | Trim leading and trailing. | |
| L | Trim leading. | |
| T | Trim trailing. | |
| R | Trim redundant. | |
| process.code | The process code is a masking conversion used for both numeric and text string formatting. | |
| l | Left justification is used primarily for text strings | |
| r | Right justification is typically used to process decimal numbers. | |
| format.mask | Special fill operators listed below. Maximum 32,767. | |
| #n | Justify data in a field of n spaces. | |
| *n | Justify data in a field of n asterisks (*). | |
| %n | Justify data in a field of n zeroes (0). | |
If only one parameter is specified, trim() removes all leading and trailing spaces from a string expression, and compresses multiple embedded spaces to one embedded space.
After trimming, string contains: "cat dog bird".
string = trim(" cat dog bird ")
In this case, the trim() function is used to convert fixed length fields to variable length fields by removing trailing and leading spaces.
readt record else stop name = trim(record[1,25]) address = trim(record[26,40])
The program:
line = ’--a--b--c--’ print trim(line,’-’) print trim(line,’-’,’L’) print trim(line,’-’,’T’) print trim(line,’-’,’B’) print trim(line,’-’,’A’) print trim(line,’-’,’R’)
produces the output:
-a-b-c a--b--c-- --a--b--c a--b--c abc -a-b-c-