ABBREV (Abbreviation)

The ABBREV function returns 1 if info is equal to the leading characters of information and the length of info is not less than length. ABBREV returns 0 if either of these conditions is not met.

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram ABBREV( information , info ,length )

If you specify length, it must be a positive whole number or zero. The default for length is the number of characters in info.

Examples

ABBREV('Print','Pri')      ->    1
ABBREV('PRINT','Pri')      ->    0
ABBREV('PRINT','PRI',4)    ->    0
ABBREV('PRINT','PRY')      ->    0
ABBREV('PRINT','')         ->    1
ABBREV('PRINT','',1)       ->    0
Note: A null string always matches if a length of 0 (or the default) is used. This allows a default keyword to be selected automatically; for example: 
say 'Enter option:';   pull option .
select  /* keyword1 is to be the default */
  when abbrev('keyword1',option) then ...
  when abbrev('keyword2',option) then ...
  ...
  otherwise nop;
end;