Searching string in PL/I.

[MariaJames]

I have a variable declared in PL/I as character. Variable may have 15,000 length of data. The data can be mix of differnt characters inclusing special signs. I need to search the occurance of 3 consecutive numbers in this set of 15,000 characters. Ccan you please guide on how can I do it?

Thanks.

[Robert Sample]

Are you looking for three digits in a row or do you want a particular 3-digit value?

[enrico-sorichetti]

if You know what You are searching for - 987 for example - a simple

Code: Select all

where = index(your_string,'987')

will do

otherwise if You are searching for three consecutive numeric chars You will need a two stage approach ...

Code: Select all

work_string=translate(your_string,'$$$$$$$$$$','0123456789') 
where = index(work_string,'$$$'')

the $ is a character that must NOT exist in your_string