Sheerpower®
A Guide to the Sheerpower Language
Previous Contents Index

6.4.3 BASE64DECODE$(str_expr)

The BASE64DECODE$ function allows you to take Base64 encoded data and decode it into plain text. To encode text into Base64, see Section 6.4.2, BASE64ENCODE$(str_expr,[boolean]).

Example 6-55 BASE64DECODE$ Function 

  print base64decode$('V2hlbiBvbmUgZG9vciBjbG9zZXMsIGFub3RoZXIgb3BlbnM7IGJ1dCB3ZSBvZnRlbiBsb29rIHNv' + 
    'IGxvbmcgYW5kIHNvIHJlZ3JldGZ1bGx5IHVwb24gdGhlIGNsb3NlZCBkb29yIHRoYXQgd2UgZG8g' + 
    'bm90IHNlZSB0aGUgb25lIHdoaWNoIGhhcyBvcGVuZWQgZm9yIHVzLiAtQWxleGFuZGVyIEdyYWhh' + 
    'bSBCZWxs') 
  end
 
When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfull 
y upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. -Alex 
ander Graham Bell

Example 6-56 BASE64DECODE$ Function#2 

  a$ = 'c3VyZQ==' 
  b$ = base64decode$(a$) 
  print b$ 
  end
 
sure

6.4.4 CHANGE$(str_expr1, str_expr2, str_expr3)

CHANGE$ changes specified characters in str_expr1. str_expr1 is the source string. str_expr2 contains the target characters, and str_expr3 specifies the substitution characters. CHANGE$ returns the changed string.

CHANGE$ searches for the target characters within the source string and replaces these characters with the substitution characters. The substitution characters are mapped onto the target characters.

Example 6-57 CHANGE$ Function 

  let a$ = 'bdbdbdbd' 
  let b$ = 'b' 
  let c$ = 'c' 
  let changed$ = change$(a$, b$, c$) 
  print a$ 
  print changed$ 
  end
 
 
bdbdbdbd 
cdcdcdcd

6.4.5 CHARSET$[(str_expr)]

CHARSET$ returns the character set specified. The optional string expression can be used to specify the character set to return. The available character sets are:

Table 6-4 Available character sets for CHARSET$
  UCASE all upper-case letters (A-Z)
  LCASE all lower-case letters (a-z)
  CONTROL all control characters (ASCII 0-31)
  ASCII the ASCII character set, in order (0-255)

ASCII is the default character set for CHARSET$.

Example 6-58 CHARSET$ Function 

  line input 'Enter your text': text$ 
  // change upper-case to lower-case 
  ct$ = change$(text$, & 
       charset$('ucase'), & 
       charset$('lcase')) 
  print 'Lower-case version is:'; ct$ 
  end
  
  
Enter your text? TESTER 
Lower-case version is: tester

6.4.6 CHR$(int_expr1[, int_expr2])

CHR$ returns a string with the specified ASCII value (int_expr1) repeated the specified number of times (int_expr2). If no count is specified, a default count of one is used.

Example 6-59 CHR$ Function 

  x = 65 
  print chr$(x)  // prints A -- the 65th ASCII character 
  end
  
  
A

6.4.7 CONVERT$(int_expr1 [[, int_expr2], int_expr3])

Given an integer (int_expr1) and an optional length (int_expr2), which defaults to four, the CONVERT$ function returns a string mapping of the integer.

If the optional data type (int_expr3) is 17, the returned string will be a packed floating (PF).

The following data types are supported:

Table 6-5 CONVERT$ Function: Supported Data Types
Data Type Conversion Result
1 Integer (2 or 4 byte)
7 COBOL comp-3 (C3 packed decimal)
17 Packed floating (PF)

Example 6-60 CONVERT$ Function: Supported Data Types 

  a$ = convert$(16961) 
  print a$ 
  end
        
 
AB

6.4.8 CONVERT(str_expr)

Given a string containing a mapped integer, the CONVERT function returns the integer value.

Example 6-61 CONVERT Function 

  a$ = 'AB' 
  b = convert(a$) 
  print b 
  end
 
 
16961

The CONVERT and CONVERT$ functions can be used in situations such as building segmented keys consisting of multiple data types.

6.4.9 CPAD$(text_str, size [, pad_str])

CPAD$ returns a new string, padded on the left and on the right with pad characters. text_str is the string to be centered, size is the size of the new string. The default pad character is a space.

Example 6-62 CPAD$ Function 

  print cpad$('123', 9, '0') 
  end
 
 
000123000

6.4.10 EDIT$(str_expr,int_expr)

EDIT$ performs one or more editing operations on the supplied string argument, depending on the value of the integer expression. The integer expression is one of the integers below, or a sum of integers below for the desired edit functions:

Table 6-6 EDIT$ Function - Operation Values
Value Edit Operation
1 Trim parity bits.
2 Discard all spaces and tabs.
4 Discard characters: CR, LF, FF, ESC, RUBOUT and NULL.
8 Discard leading spaces and tabs.
16 Reduce spaces and tabs to One space.
32 Convert lower case to upper case.
64 Convert "[" to "(" and "]" to ")".
128 Discard trailing spaces and tabs.
256 Do not alter characters inside quotes.

Example 6-63 EDIT$ Function 

  print edit$('hi there, how are you today?' , 32) 
 
 
HI THERE, HOW ARE YOU TODAY?

6.4.11 ELEMENTS(str_expr1 [, str_expr2])

The ELEMENTS function returns the number of elements in a string expression that contains a list of elements. str_expr1 is the string containing the list of elements. str_expr2 is the separator. A comma is the default separator.

A given element is considered quoted only if the first non-blank character of the element is a single or double quote mark.

Example 6-64 ELEMENTS Function 

  alphabet$ = 'a;b;c;d;e;f;g;h;i;j;k;l;m;n;o;p;q;r;s;t;u;v;w;x;y;z' 
  print elements(alphabet$, ';') 
  end
  
  
26

6.4.12 ELEMENT$(str_expr1, num_expr [, str_expr2])

ELEMENT$ returns the element from str_expr1 which is specified by the num_expr. str_expr1 contains a set of elements with separators between them. The default separator is a comma:

Example 6-65 ELEMENT$ Function 

  let a$ = element$('ADD,DEL,EXIT',2) 
  print a$ 
  end
 
 
DEL

A separator other than the comma can be specified with str_expr2.

Example 6-66 ELEMENT$ Function: Separators 

  let sentence$ = 'This is a test.' 
  let a$ = element$(sentence$,2,' ')
  print a$ 
  end
  
 
is

More than one separator in a row returns a null for the corresponding element.

Note on the following example:
The following example shows how having two commas [the default separator] in a row will cause the result to be nothing [null] for that particular element.

Example 6-67 ELEMENT$ Function: Separators 

  let sentence$ = 'This,, is, a, test'  
  print element$(sentence$, 2) 
  end

Previous Next Contents Index