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Home > Forums > Programmers > Languages > COBOL General discussion > FAQs

COBOL General discussion FAQ

Cobol Code Examples

How do I convert comma-delimited records?

faq209-5343

Posted: 30 Jul 04 (Edited 8 Feb 06)

Perhaps you have someone supplying data in a comma-separated (CSV) file. This might help.

CODE

       identification division.
       program-id.  unstring-fields.
       data division.
       working-storage section.
       01  binary.
           02  I               PIC S9(4).
           02  J               PIC S9(4).
       01  the-delimiter       PIC X(3).
       01  INPUT-FIELD  PIC X(123) VALUE
           'Bill Smith,"444-55-6666",999999999,1234567,"$1,060.46 "'.
       78  INPUT-FIELD-SIZE value LENGTH OF INPUT-FIELD.

       01  .
           02  OCCURS 40.
               03  FIELD-HOLDER PIC X(50).
               03  FIELD-LENGTH PIC 9(4).
       procedure division.
       a.
           MOVE 1 to I.
           MOVE 1 TO J.
           PERFORM UNTIL I > INPUT-FIELD-SIZE
               INSPECT INPUT-FIELD (I:) TALLYING I FOR LEADING SPACE
               IF I NOT > INPUT-FIELD-SIZE
                   EVALUATE INPUT-FIELD (I:1)
                   WHEN '"'
                       ADD 1 TO I
                       IF I NOT > INPUT-FIELD-SIZE
                           UNSTRING INPUT-FIELD
                               DELIMITED BY '",' OR '"'
                               INTO FIELD-HOLDER (J)
                               DELIMITER IN THE-DELIMITER
                               COUNT IN FIELD-LENGTH (J)
                               POINTER I
                           END-UNSTRING
                           ADD 1 to J
                       END-IF
                   WHEN OTHER
                       UNSTRING INPUT-FIELD DELIMITED BY ","
                           INTO FIELD-HOLDER (J)
                           DELIMITER IN THE-DELIMITER
                           COUNT IN FIELD-LENGTH (J)
                           POINTER I
                       END-UNSTRING
                       ADD 1 to J
                   END-EVALUATE
               END-IF
           END-PERFORM.
           SUBTRACT 1 FROM J.
           stop run.

Note that this code provides the skeleton of scanning comma-delimited records, including detecting fields that are enclosed in quotation marks ("). Subsequent conversion of numeric values, embedded quotation marks, and other anomolies you might find in 'real life' are not addressed.

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