After the calculation, Account# contains 123456. When numeric data comes into RPG IV programs as character data, you can use this new built-in instead of MOVE.

If all numeric fields were integers, I'd be done with this tip. But such is not the case in reality. Sometimes, we get numeric data in alpha fields that is to be converted to a decimal mixed number, such as dollars and cents. In this case, the %dec built-in function is the solution. Again, V5R2 or later is needed, and a couple of additional parameters are required to get the desired result. The format of the built-in function is as follows:

The character field can have blanks in it and a leading or trailing plus or minus sign (+ or -), but embedded commas and currency symbols need to be removed. You can easily do this using the %xlate built-in function inside the %dec. The %dec built-in function interprets a period or comma as the decimal "point." The following are some examples:

The Amount1 field is now –3264.78, and IntRate is .05625. Remember though that the decimal point of the answer is being determined by the decimal point in the character field. In real life, nothing seems to match to these examples quite so nicely. What if the character input data doesn't have a decimal point in it (and you want the last two digits as the decimal positions)? When this occurs, using a 2 as the third parameter in %dec doesn't work!

If you are thinking of using built-in functions %len and %decpos (of the result field) as the second and third parameters, forget it. That won't work either. First, these two parameters must be literals or named constants, and second, they only define the return value.

The decimal fraction outcome of the %dec conversion is dependent on the location of the decimal point or comma in the character string.

To clarify, I will use a code illustration. In the following illustration, a character variable (Amount_A) has no decimal point, but it is desired that the last two digits are the decimal positions of the answer (should I use a 2 as the third parameter of the %dec?).

This code doesn't work! Since the input field has no decimal point, the Amount field becomes 326478.00-. In addition, if my example used an eight-digit number (for the Inz value) for Amount_A instead of six digits, a runtime sizing error would occur because the result value of the %dec would be 10 digits (eight to the left plus the two decimal positions). To get the desired result and handle various decimal position situations, I suggest the following:

This scheme handles the conversion by first making the length of the return value larger to accommodate the decimal positions as integers and then dividing by the correct power of 10 to provide the decimal positions desired. With this code, the Amount field becomes 3264.78-. As a reminder, the exponentiation expression 10**DecA has a higher precedence than the division function, so no parentheses are needed in the denominator.

The %int and %dec built-in functions provide data conversion from character to either integer or decimal. Try it!

Jim Martin is corporate technical instructor at Jack Henry & Associates in Monett, Missouri. He is a veteran of RPG programming, beginning in 1967 with a position at IBM as a systems engineer and later was a staff programmer at the Rochester systems programming lab. For eight years, he was at Lakeview Technology as an AS/400 and RPG instructor and was a speaker at various local midrange user group meetings and conferences. He can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Jim Martin holds a BS degree in mathematics and an MS in computer science. For 26 years, he was employed by IBM, where he wrote RPG applications for customers and worked in the programming laboratory as a programmer on portions of CPF and the OS/400 operating system. After leaving IBM, Jim took post-graduate work in computer science and performed RPG training. He is an IBM-certified RPG IV developer and author of multiple bestselling editions of Free-Format RPG IV, which, since the book's initial publication in 2005, have taught thousands of RPG IV programmers how to be successful with the free-format coding style.

---

MC Press books written by Jim Martin available now on the MC Press Bookstore.

		Free-Format RPG IV: Third Edition Improve productivity, readability, and program maintenance with the free-format style of programming in RPG IV. List Price $59.95 Now On Sale
		Free-Format RPG IV: Second Edition >Make the transition from coding in fixed-format RPG to free format. List Price $59.95 Now On Sale
		Functions in Free-Format RPG IV Here’s the ultimate guide to writing RPG IV programs with functions in the free-format style. List Price $59.95 Now On Sale