Trim() Function

hema arvind · Post by **hema arvind** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:39 am

Hi,

I have a requirement which needs the following output.

If have a string as " XXX YYY ZZZ" ,the output should be

XXXYYYZZZ.The output should not have any spaces,tabs,nulls.IT should return only all the characters what it contains.

I tried the option of trim("XXX YYY ZZZ"," ","A").However I am still getting some strings which are containing spaces.

Please suggest on this.

ArndW · Post by **ArndW** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:48 am

It this a server or a px job? A recent similar post showed that the string actually contained unprintable characters - could this be the case for you?

hema arvind · Post by **hema arvind** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:58 am

We are using server jobs on DS 7.5.1.

My requirement is to get only the characters from the string.

Please let me know how to find out unprinted characters in a string.

I tried to use TrimB,TrimL but in vain.I used other options like L,T,B,F,E,D.However 4 values continue to show.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:03 am

Read the documentation on Trim(). It does not remove internal spaces; it reduces multiple contiguous occurrences to a single occurrence. Perhaps you need Convert() instead?

Minhajuddin · Post by **Minhajuddin** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 1:29 pm

Yeah as Ray says you can use Convert to get your job done.

Use this instead of trim()

Convert(' ', '','XXX YYY ZZZ')

would give you the ouptut

XXXYYYZZZ

But notice that the first field has a space between the single quotes whereas the second quote has nothing between the quotes.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:59 pm

That's why we have Code tags!

Code: Select all

Convert(" ", "", InLink.TheString)

hema arvind · Post by **hema arvind** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 4:06 am

Thank You Very Much for your help.

I tried to use convert as you told and it worked fine.

However,now I have a requirement such that If I have two strings(one from source and one from lookup). I have to compare them for equality and case insensitivity.If both the strings are not equal in every aspect,then the string from the source should be loaded to target.

The code which I used before was

If upcase(trim(<column_name>,' ',"A")) =
upcase(trim(<column_name>,' ',"A")) then 'Y' else 'N'

I declared this code in stage variable and In target's constraint,I added the condition stagevar='N'

After your suggestion of using convert,I tried using the below code

If(UpCase(Convert(' ', '',<column_name>))=UpCase(Convert(' ', '',<column_name>))
then 'Y' else 'N'

However they are returning some strings which are present in both source and look up.

Please suggest what else checks could be performed to check for sting equality so that same strings could not be loaded to target.

For example,If I have two strings "Chinese Hamster" and "Chinese hamster" only one string should be returned to the target.ie. no duplications are allowed.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:29 pm

This really begs a separate thread. On the server forum. Investigate the Compare() function. Decide your business rule for casing in the output and generate that.