write to a text file in clipper 1

[shsimjee]

i am creating a dbf file with record length 700 ch
i then create a string of alpha numeric data with variable length always ending in 9999. i write to this file.when done i copy file to .txt. each record after 9999 is filled with blank to 700
i need to remove these blanks.if i go to any record and go to end of record it must stop at 9999
i am using clipper 5.3
my problem is when i copy the dbf file to txt/csv file
and edit the txt/csv file, each record does not end at 9999 which could be record length 545 but end at 700 end of record. the dbf file is 700 r/length.alternate is how to write a variable field to a text file without writing to a dbf file

 

[JockMullin]

Hi Shsimjee

As usual there are several ways to do this; here is just one.
Let's say the field in your .dbf which contains the variable length string is called "VARDATA". The following code will create a .txt as I think you want it.

set alternate to output.txt  && this is the output file
set alternate on
set console off              && to prevent screen output
do while !eof()
   ?? left(vardata,at('9999',vardata)+3)+chr(13)+chr(10)
   skip
enddo
set alternate off
set alternate to
set console on

Jock