Formatting problem

[FatsGordon]

Hi all,

Is there a way to include an escape character (especifically the ASCII(10)) into an
stored procedure variable? I've tried ASCII(10) (in 4GL works Ok) but the parser
rejects it.

It should go this way (just as an example):

LET line_feed = ASCII(10); -- This doesn't work
..........
LET my_variable = some_things || line_feed || more_stuff || line_feed ||
just_more_stuff || line_feed; -- my_variable is a CHAR one

I need that in order to formatting the output text, which is included into a single
CHAR variable. When completed the routine, I inserted that variable into a temp table
(just one field), and then performed an UNLOAD to a text file. The ASCII(10) goes
multiple times inside the output file.

I'm using Informix 7.31.

Thank you!

 

[mberni]

Maybe you can insert your LF into some dummy-Database field, select it from your procedure into a variable and concatenate that with your stuff. Something like that:

DEFINE lc_lfchar char;

select linefeed
into lc_lfchar
from lfdummytable;

LET yourvar = stuff || lc_lfchar || morestuff || lc_lfchar;

Furthermore there is a -X switch to dbaccess, which makes UNLOAD export special chars in a readable form. Maybe this is of help too.