Change text

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There are two Change Text process statements:
NCHGT
Change new (or search) input text string
OCHGT
Change old input text string
These process statements change the input source image before performing the comparison.

The relative input file (new or old) is scanned for text that matches a search_string. If matching text is found, it is replaced by a corresponding output_string before the comparison process is performed. Question marks (?) may be used as wildcard characters in the search_string or output_string.

The search_string and output_string need not be the same length. The output_string may even be a null string.

Compare Types: LINE, WORD, and Search. OCHGT cannot be used for Search.

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagramNCHGTOCHGT'search_string','output_string',start_column:last_start_column
search_string
A character or hexadecimal string to be replaced in the input file. For one embedded apostrophe, use two consecutive apostrophes ('').
output_string
The replacement string to be used in the comparison. For one embedded apostrophe, use two consecutive apostrophes ('').
start_column
The column in or after which the search_string must start. Must be greater than zero.
last_start_column
The last column in which the search_string may start. Must be separated from the start_column by a colon, and must be equal to or greater than the start_column value. If not supplied, is the equivalent of setting the value to start_column. To search from the start_column to the end of a variable length row, set the last_start_column to a value larger than the length of the longest row.
Example Description
NCHGT 'ABCD','XXXX' Changes all strings ABCD in the new file to XXXX before performing the comparison.
OCHGT 'ABCD','XXXX',1:50 Changes all strings ABCD in the old file, that start within columns 1 to 50, to XXXX before performing the comparison.
OCHGT 'ABCD','',1:50 Changes all strings ABCD in the old file, that start within columns 1 to 50, to a null string before performing the comparison. (In the comparison process, this effectively ignores any ABCD strings found in those positions in the old file.)
NCHGT 'ABCD','AB' Changes all strings ABCD in the new file to AB before performing the comparison.
NCHGT X'7B01',':1',6 Changes all hexadecimal strings X'7B01' in the new file, that start in column 6, to the character string :1 before performing the comparison.
NCHGT 'PREF???','NPREF' Changes all 7-character strings with the prefix PREF in the new file, to the 5-character string NPREF before performing the comparison.
NCHGT 'PREF???','NPREF??' Changes the first 5 characters of all 7-character strings with the prefix PREF in the new file, to NPREF before performing the comparison.