Variable declaration in BASIC

dsstarter · Post by **dsstarter** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:05 pm

Hi All,
My question sounds simple to you all but I could not find the answer for this in my search here.

I am converting a cobol program to basic routine and this is my first
datastage project....my question is

how can i declare a basic variable of length 200 and datatype is CHAR

Starter

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:24 pm

It's not like COBOL. There's no "working storage" and variables do not need to be explicitly declared. Also, there is no size or type associated with variables. Best to initialize them to a value so they start off live in a known state, however.

Are you sure you need to go this route, however? Are you sure the COBOL program shouldn't be converted to a DataStage job?

kcbland · Post by **kcbland** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:27 pm

There are no declarations required. There are no data types. Variables automatically cast when necessary. Dates are text strings. Dynamic arrays (notated with < and > instead of parenthesis) need declaration to "" as in

Code: Select all

myarray = ""

Read your DS BASIC manual on the Start button and learn about these functions: ICONV, OCONV, FMT, INDEX, COUNT, SUBSTR, LEFT, RIGHT, FIELD.