Substring from Column
Mandatory.
Specify the source column (real or virtual) in the physical table or the record contents of the physical table (*RECORD) that is to be used for the substring operation.
Rules
Allowable values are:
- A real or virtual column defined in the table definition.
- *RECORD indicates that the full record content of the table is to be used.
- You cannot perform a substring from a decimal column to an alpha column.
Warnings
- If *RECORD has been specified for this column, the utmost care should be taken in the substring of the table record. There will be no validation checks to ensure data type/length compatibility. Virtual columns formed as a result of a substring operation specifying *RECORD are totally your responsibility.
- PLEASE be careful when performing this option when using *RECORD as column definition errors could cause unpredictable results.
Tips & Techniques
Following are special notes for substring virtuals when used with alpha column into a numeric column:
- The column should only contain the digits 0-9. Any other character, including a sign character ('+' or '-'), will give unpredictable results.
- Substring is performed from left to right, therefore if a column containing '123.45' is substringed into position 1 of a signed (6,2) column (which is initially set to *ZERO), the value will be set to 1234.50.