CHARACTER: specify and initialize the character string data type

• defining a string

  :
  • CHARACTER [::] string[*length] [/"inistring"/] [="inistring"] ! [ ] optional
  • length = a numerical constant known at compile time (DATA, REAL) to assign the byte count to string, default is 1
  • inistring = a string constant like "hello world"
  • examples:
    • REAL, PARAMETER :: n=100 ! predefines a symbolic constant
    • CHARACTER :: StringName*n
    • CHARACTER StringName="initialization string defines length"
    • CHARACTER StringName * n /"initialization string of length n"/
    • CHARACTER StringName*123 = "initialization string of length 123"
    • CHARACTER :: a, b*2, c="xyz", d*n ! lengths are 1, 2, 3, 100 resp.
    • CHARACTER zoo*n, fish="eel", bird*20/"eagle"/

• string delimiters

  : almost all non-alfanumeric and non-operator characters, e.g.:
  • CHARACTER a="double quote", b='single quote', c=%percent%, d=#number_sign#, e=.period.
  • CHARACTER special = ;string with "double and 'embedded single' quotes" like this;

• dynamically change string length

  :
  • ALLOCATE(string, new_string_length)
  • ALLOCATE is to

    expand

    a string only
  • to

    rename or shrink a string

    use the ALIAS function
  • • ALLOCATE (String, 2*LEN(String)) ! this doubles current length

• substring definitions

  :
  • substring = string(start : [end])
  • substring = string(4:z) ! starts at byte 4 and extends to the current value of z
  • substring = string(start : ) ! extends to end of string
  • ALIAS(string,start, substring,LEN(string)-start+1) ! substring shares memory with string byte start to byte end
  • substring = CHAR(2, 4, "ABC DEF GHI JKL ") ! substring 2 out of 4 equal length substrings is "DEF "
  • EDIT(Text=string, Right="x", Mark1, Right="y", Parse=SubStringName)
• more examples:
  • string = "ABC..xyz" ! assign a constant, fill with trailing blanks
  • textA(i : i+8) = textB
  • i = INDEX(OtherString, "Hello") ! find the location of "Hello"
  • OtherString = TRIM(string1) // TRIM(string2) // TRIM(string3)!

    concatenation of strings

  • length_of_string = LEN(string)
  • trimmed_length_of_string = LEN_TRIM(string)