SETLEFT - Extract left substring

SETLEFT Extract left substring

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Syntax:	SETLEFT	[ variable ] = [ value ] [ cnt ] [ /options ]
Arguments:	[ variable ]	Variable to assign; if the variable does not previously exist it is created.
	[ value ]	Variable or string defining the value from which the substring is to be extracted.
	[ cnt ]	Variable, string, or numeric constant defining the length of the substring; this value must resolve to a numeric value less than or equal to the length of [ value ].
Options:	/split	Save the unextracted portion of the string back in [ value ].

This script command extracts the leftmost [ cnt ] characters from [ value ] and saves the result in [ variable ].

If the /split option is specified, the unextracted portion of [ value ] is assigned back to [ value ] replacing the original value.

Consider the following example.

;; assign a variable to a string

SET string = "this is a string"

;; extract the leftmost 4 characters

SETLEFT substring = string 4

;; another example of syntax to extract the leftmost 4 characters

SETNUM len = 4

SETLEFT substring = string len

The resulting substring variable contains the value "this". The original string variable is unchanged.

Consider the same example using the /split option.

;; assign a variable to a string

SET string = "this is a string"

;; extract the leftmost 4 characters

SETLEFT substring = string 4 /split

The resulting substring variable contains the value "this" and the original string variable becomes " is a string".