Problem:
Often there is a need to be able to calculate the length of data within a COBOL string (PIC X).
Resolution:
There are many ways to calculate the length of data within a COBOL string variable. The following method is simple and hopefully easy to understand. The code basically does the following:
1) It reverses the string using the REVERSE Intrinsic function.
2) The INSPECT verb is used to count the number of leading spaces.
3) The number of leading spaces is subtracted from the total size of the variable.
Here is a small example that illustrates the idea:
working-storage section.
01 ws-string pic x(40).
01 ws-string-len pic 9(4).
procedure division.
display
spaces at 0101
end-display.
* -- Empty string.
move spaces to ws-string.
perform proc-calc-len.
display
ws-string at 0101
ws-string-len at 0201
end-display.
* -- Part filled string.
move "Micro Focus" to ws-string.
perform proc-calc-len.
display
ws-string at 0401
ws-string-len at 0501
end-display.
* -- Completely filled string.
move all "X" to ws-string.
perform proc-calc-len.
display
ws-string at 0701
ws-string-len at 0801
end-display.
stop run.
* -------------------------------------------------------------- *
proc-calc-len section.
move 0 to ws-string-len.
move function reverse(ws-string) to ws-string.
inspect ws-string
tallying ws-string-len
for leading space.
subtract ws-string-len
from length of ws-string
giving ws-string-len.
move function reverse(ws-string) to ws-string.
proc-calc-len-exit.
exit.
* -------------------------------------------------------------- *
