Oce XDL, Reference Manual

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TABLE Command Using Logical Processing
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4.4 TABLE Command
The TABLE command is used to build a table of constants for use by the logical processing
commands. Each constant included in a TABLE command is examined by the system to
see if it is equal in value to the input data field specified in the CONSTANT parameter of the
CRITERIA command. The TABLE command must precede its reference in a CRITERIA
command.
The MASK parameter of the TABLE command permits character positions of a string to be
ignored or tested for type attributes.
In an unmasked comparison (using only the CONSTANT parameter of the TABLE com-
mand) characters in the corresponding positions of the constant string and the input data
string are tested for absolute equality one character at a time. In a masked comparison (us-
ing the MASK parameter), before the comparison is done for each character position, that
position in the constant string is checked for a mask character as specified by the user. If
one is found, the corresponding data character is tested only for the type indicated by the
mask character.
Any valid character in the data character set, such as ASCII and EBCDIC, may be used in
the MASK parameter as a mask character. Any character that is not explicitly tested for ab-
solute equality by that TABLE command may be defined by the MASK parameter as a mask
character. MASK parameter character definitions apply only to the TABLE command in
which the definition occurs and, as in unmasked comparisons, it is possible to specify mul-
tiple strings in the CONSTANT parameter.
The following section describes the syntax of the command parameters and explanations
of the parameter options