How to: |
PATTERNS returns a string that represents the structure of the input argument. The returned pattern includes the following characters:
Note that special characters (for example, +-/=%) are returned exactly as they were in the input string.
The output is returned as variable length alphanumeric.
PATTERNS(string)
where:
Alphanumeric
Is a string whose pattern will be returned.
The following request returns patterns that represent customer addresses.
DEFINE FILE WFLITE Address_Pattern/A40V = PATTERNS(ADDRESS_LINE_1); END TABLE FILE WFLITE PRINT FST.ADDRESS_LINE_1 OVER Address_Pattern BY ADDRESS_LINE_1 NOPRINT SKIP-LINE WHERE COUNTRY_NAME EQ 'United States' WHERE CITY_NAME EQ 'Houston' OR 'Indianapolis' OR 'Chapel Hill' OR 'Bronx' ON TABLE SET PAGE NOLEAD ON TABLE SET STYLE * GRID=OFF,$ ENDSTYLE END
The partial output is shown in the following image. Note that the special characters (#-,) in an address are represented in the pattern as is.