Length Function

Format

i = length(string_expression);

Description

The function length calculates the length of an alphanumeric string_expression. If the string is a dictionary item, the value returned is the length of the item. If it the string is the result of a function, the value returned is the length of the string returned by the function.

Return Value

The function returns the length of the string as an integer value. If using an alpha variable or a dictionary item, you may want to strip the string before calculating its length.

Example

alpha (30) NAME = "John Henry";
length(NAME); // returns 30
length(strip(NAME)); // returns 10

Uses on Lists and Arrays

The length function also operates on lists and arrays. When applied to a list, it returns the number of elements in the list. When applied on an array, it returns the size of an array dimension.

Format

i = length(list_name);
i = length(array_nameʃ, dimensionʅ);

Examples

array string usmca_countries(3) = "Canada", "Mexico", "United States";
length(usmca_countries); // returns 3;

// ...

array AgeSexDeckArray(AGE_VS, SEX_VS);

do numeric age_counter = 1 while age_counter <= length(AgeSexDeckArray, 1)
do numeric sex_counter = 1 while sex_counter <= length(AgeSexDeckArray, 2)
// ...
enddo;
enddo;

See also: Array.Length Function