USERMASK
Identifies a symbol and string used to match a field.
- Required
- No
- Default Value
- (None)
- Data Type
- AFP, Line
The symbol can represent one or more characters, including the characters reserved for the field mask. The string contains the character or characters you want to match to the field data.
Syntax
USERMASK=number,symbol,'string'
Options and values
- number
- The number of the user mask. You can define up to four user masks, using the numbers 1 (one) through 4 (four).
- symbol
- The symbol that represents the characters in
the string. You can use any printable character,
except those reserved for the field mask (
#@=¬^%). The character that you specify does not match its literal value in the field. That is, if you specify an*(asterisk) as the symbol, ACIF will not match an asterisk character in the field. - string
- One or more characters that you want to match in the field data.
If the input data is not ASCII, the string must be specified in hexadecimal.
For example, when the code page is 500 and the input data is EBCDIC:
USERMASK=1,'*',X'C181C282C383'
Example
A typical use of a USERMASK is to match specific characters that might appear in a field column.
For example, the following definitions:
USERMASK=1,'*','AaBbCc'
FIELD3=*,*,15,(OFFSET=(10:24),MASK='*@@@@@@@@@@@@@@',ORDER=BYROW)A, B, or C in the
first position of a fifteen character string, such as a name.A user mask can also be used to match
one of the field mask symbols. ACIF reserves the symbols
#@=¬^% for
the field mask. If the field data contains one of the mask symbols,
you must define a user mask so that ACIF can find a match. For example,
the following definitions: USERMASK=2,'*','%'
FIELD4=*,*,3,(OFFSET=(10:12),MASK='##*',ORDER=BYROW)85%.