Built-in Functions › STRING-INDEX

STRING-INDEX

Purpose

Returns the starting position of a specified string within a string value.

If the specified string is not found, a zero is returned.

Syntax

►►─┬─ STRING-INDEX ─┬─ ( string, search-string ) ─────────────────────────────►◄
   ├─ INDEX ────────┤
   └─ INDX ─────────┘

Parameters

string

Specifies the string that is searched.

String can be:

• A string literal, enclosed in single quotation marks
• The name of a user-defined variable data field containing the string

search-string

Specifies the string that the index function searches for within string.

Search-string can be:

• A string literal, enclosed in single quotation marks
• The name of a user-defined variable data field containing the string

Search-string cannot be longer than string.

Example

In the following example, the index function is used to test whether a product code contains the string 'ABC':

Initial value:
    PROD-CODE: '12AB43 ABC3254'
Statements:
    IF INDX(PROD-CODE,'ABC') EQ 0
      THEN
        DISPLAY TEXT 'INVALID PRODUCT CODE'.
Returned value from function: 8

Since the string 'ABC' appears in the product code (starting at character position 8), the condition is false.