UPCASE: Converting Text to Uppercase

How to:

The UPCASE function converts a character string to uppercase. It is useful for sorting on a field that contains both mixed-case and uppercase values. Sorting on a mixed-case field produces incorrect results because the sorting sequence in EBCDIC always places lowercase letters before uppercase letters, while the ASCII sorting sequence always places uppercase letters before lowercase. To obtain correct results, define a new field with all of the values in uppercase, and sort on that field.

In FIDEL, CRTFORM LOWER retains the case of entries exactly as they were typed. Use UPCASE to convert entries for particular fields to uppercase.

Syntax: How to Convert Text to Uppercase 

UPCASE(length, source_string, output)

where:

length

Integer

Is the number of characters in source_string and output.

input

Alphanumeric

Is the string to convert enclosed in single quotation marks, or the field containing the character string.

output

Alphanumeric of type AnV or An

Is the field to which the result is returned, or the format of the output value enclosed in single quotation marks.

Example: Converting a Mixed-Case String to Uppercase

UPCASE converts the LAST_NAME_MIXED field to uppercase: 

DEFINE FILE EMPLOYEE
LAST_NAME_MIXED/A15=IF DEPARTMENT EQ 'MIS' THEN LAST_NAME ELSE 
  LCWORD(15, LAST_NAME, 'A15');
LAST_NAME_UPPER/A15=UPCASE(15, LAST_NAME_MIXED, 'A15') ;
END
TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE
PRINT LAST_NAME_MIXED AND FIRST_NAME BY LAST_NAME_UPPER
WHERE CURR_JOBCODE EQ 'B02' OR 'A17' OR 'B04';
END

Now, when you execute the request, the names are sorted correctly.

The output is: 

LAST_NAME_UPPER  LAST_NAME_MIXED  FIRST_NAME
---------------  ---------------  ----------
BANNING          Banning          JOHN
BLACKWOOD        BLACKWOOD        ROSEMARIE
CROSS            CROSS            BARBARA
MCCOY            MCCOY            JOHN
MCKNIGHT         Mcknight         ROGER
ROMANS           Romans           ANTHONY

If you do not want to see the field with all uppercase values, you can NOPRINT it.

Example: Converting a Lowercase Field to Uppercase With MODIFY

Suppose your company decides to store employee names in mixed case and the department assignments in uppercase.

To enter records for new employees, execute this MODIFY procedure: 

MODIFY FILE EMPLOYEE
CRTFORM LOWER
 "ENTER EMPLOYEE'S ID : <EMP_ID"
 "ENTER LAST_NAME: <LAST_NAME FIRST_NAME: <FIRST_NAME"
 "TYPE THE NAME EXACTLY AS YOU SEE IT ON THE SHEET"
 " "
 "ENTER DEPARTMENT ASSIGNMENT: <DEPARTMENT"
MATCH EMP_ID
     ON MATCH REJECT
     ON NOMATCH COMPUTE
        DEPARTMENT = UPCASE(10, DEPARTMENT, 'A10');
     ON NOMATCH INCLUDE
     ON NOMATCH TYPE "DEPARTMENT VALUE CHANGED TO UPPERCASE: <DEPARTMENT"
DATA
END

The procedure processes as:

  1. The procedure prompts you for an employee ID, last name, first name, and department on a CRTFORM screen. The CRTFORM LOWER option retains the case of entries exactly as typed.
  2. You type the following data and press Enter:
    ENTER EMPLOYEE'S ID :  444555666
ENTER LAST_NAME:  Cutter           FIRST_NAME:  Alan
TYPE THE NAME EXACTLY AS YOU SEE IT ON THE SHEET
ENTER DEPARTMENT ASSIGNMENT:  sales
  3. The procedure searches the data source for the ID 444555666. If it does not find the ID, it continues processing the transaction.
  4. UPCASE converts the DEPARTMENT entry sales to SALES: 
    ENTER EMPLOYEE'S ID :
ENTER LAST_NAME:                   FIRST_NAME:
TYPE THE NAME EXACTLY AS YOU SEE IT ON THE SHEET
ENTER DEPARTMENT ASSIGNMENT:
DEPARTMENT VALUE CHANGED TO UPPERCASE: SALES
  5. The procedure adds the transaction to the data source.
  6. When you exit the procedure with PF3, the transaction message indicates the number of transactions accepted or rejected: 
    TRANSACTIONS:         TOTAL =     1  ACCEPTED=     1  REJECTED=     0
    SEGMENTS:             INPUT =     1  UPDATED =     0  DELETED =     0