- RPG IV Cheat Sheet: Built-In Functions
- RPG IV Cheat Sheet: Integer Data-Type Chart
- RPG IV Data-types vs SQL and API Documentation
- XML Parser Error Codes
- RPG IV Cheat Sheet: 5250 Hexadecimal Codes
- Work Around for Literals on %DEC Built-in Function
Using IBM i? Need to create Excel, CSV, HTML, JSON, PDF, SPOOL reports? Learn more about the fastest and least expensive tool for the job: SQL iQuery.
RPG IV Built-In Function Summary
Published by: Bob Cozzi on 08 Feb 2011 view comments
RPG IV - Built-in Functions through IBM i v6.11
The original release of RPG IV included a set of built-in functions. These built-in functions were:
%ADDR, %PADDR, %SIZE, %ELEM, %SUBST, %TRIM, %TRIML, %TRIMR
In addition, under OS/400 V3R2 and V3R7 the %PARMS built-in function was introduced. Since then, several built-in functions have been added to RPG IV. The following table provides the OS/400 Version and Release that the specific built-in functions were introduced and/or enhanced.
| Version Release | Built-in Function | Parameters | Return Value Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| V3R7 | %ABS | numeric expression | Absolute value of expression |
| %ADDR | variable name { : *DATA } | Address of variable (for VARYING fields, *DATA may be used to get ptr to the data portion) | |
| V5R1 | %ALLOC | memory size | Pointer to the allocated storage. |
| %BITAND | value1 : value2 { : value 3 { : value-n... } } | Performs bit-wise ANDing of the parameters and returns that result. | |
| %BITNOT | value | Performs a bit-wise NOT of the value and returns that result. | |
| %BITOR | value1 : value2 { : value 3 { : value-n... } } | Performs bit-wise ORing of the parameters and returns that result. | |
| %BITXOR | value1 : value2 | Performs bit-wise Exclusive ORing of the two parameters and returns that result. | |
| V4R2 V4R4 | %CHAR | graphic, date, time, timestamp, or numeric expression { : date/time-format } | Value in character format. For |
| V5R1 | %CHECK | compare-value : data-to-search { : start } | First position in the searched-data that contains a character not in the list of the characters in the compare value. |
| V5R1 | %CHECKR | compare-value : data-to-search { : start } | Last position in the searched-data that contains a character not in the list of the characters in the compare value. (Search begins with the right-most character and proceeds to the left. |
| V5R1 | %DATE | { value { : date-format-code } | A date data-type value after converting the "value" to the specified date format. If no value is specified, the current system date is returned. |
| V5R1 | %DAYS | days | Converts the input value to a duration value that can be used in an expression to add or subtract a number of days to a date value. |
| V3R7 | %DEC | numeric expression {:digits : decpos} | Value in packed numeric format. If digits and decpos are specified the result value is formatted to fit in a variable of the number of digits specified. |
| %DEC | date/time value { : format } | Converts a date, time or timestamp value to numeric. The Format parameter indicates the resulting value's format regardless of the input date/time value's format. | |
| V3R7 | %DECH | numeric expression : digits : decpos | Half-adjusted value in packed numeric format. The length and decimal positions |
| V3R7 | %DECPOS | numeric expression | Number of decimal digits. |
| V5R1 | %DIFF | start-date : end-date : duration-code | Calculates the difference between two date fields. The type of difference returned is specified by the duration-code and may be *MSECONDS *SECONDS *MINUTES *HOURS *DAYS *MONTHS *YEARS. |
| V4R4 | %DIV | Numerator : Denominator | Performs integer division and returns the quotient (result) of that division operation. |
| V3R7 | %EDITC | non-float numeric expression : edit code {:*CURSYM | *ASTFILL | currency symbol} | String representing edited value. |
| V3R7 | %EDITFLT | numeric expression | Character external display representation of float. |
| V3R7 | %EDITW | non-float numeric expression : edit word | String representing edited value |
| %ELEM | array, table, or multiple occurrence data structure name | Number of elements or occurrences. Note: Data Structure Arrays and Multiple Occurrence Data Structures are supported along with regular tables and arrays. | |
| V4R2 | %EOF | {file name} | '1' if the most recent file input operation or write to a subfile (for a particular file, if specified) | ended in an end-of-file or | beginning-of-file condition '0' otherwise. |
| V4R2 | %EQUAL | {file name} | '1' if the most recent SETLL (for a particular file, if specified) or LOOKUP operation found an exact match '0' otherwise. |
| V4R2 | %ERROR | '1' if the most recent operation code with extender 'E' specified resulted in an error '0' otherwise. | |
| %FIELDS | update-field-list | A list of fields to be updated by an RPG IV UPDATE operation code. Only the fields specified are updated by the UPDATE operation. If %FIELDS is not specified, the entire record is updated. This is not strictly a built-in function but rather an opcode parameter. | |
| V3R7 | %FLOAT | numeric expression | Value in float format. |
| V4R2 | %FOUND | {file name} | '1' if the most recent relevant operation (for a particular file, if specified) found a record (CHAIN, DELETE, SETGT, SETLL), an element (LOOKUP), or a match (CHECK, CHECKR, SCAN) '0' otherwise. |
| V4R4 | %GRAPHIC | character value { : ccsid } | Converts any character, graphic, or UCS-2 data to double-byte character set value to Graphic (double-byte) data. |
| %HANDLER | subprocedure : data-structure | Used by the XML-INTO or XML-SAX operation codes to identify a callback subprocedure. This not strictly a built-in function but rather an opcode parameter. | |
| V5R1 | %HOURS | hours | A duration value that can be used in an expression to add or subtract a number of hours to a time value. |
| V3R7 | %INT | numeric or character expression | Returns an integer (no decimal position) value. |
| V3R7 | %INTH | numeric or character expression | Returns an integer (no decimal position) value that is rounded off. |
| %KDS | data-struct or field list { : field count } | Used by any random access RPG database operation to identify the key list (list of key fields). If a data structure is specified, its subfields are used and the optional 2nd parameter indicates the number of those subfields to be used as key list key fields. This is not strictly a built-in function but rather an opcode parameter. | |
| V3R7 | %LEN | any expression |
|
| V5R1 | %LOOKUPxx | search-data : array { : start-index { : elements to search }} | An array index of the element in the array where the search-data is located. |
| V5R1 | %TLOOKUPxx | search-data : searched-table { : alternate-table } | *ON if the search is successful, otherwise *OFF. (NOTE: The indexes of the searched-table and alternate-table are set to the index of the search-data if *ON is returned.) |
| V5R1 | %MINUTES | minutes | A duration value that can be used in an expression to add or subtract a number of minutes to a time value. |
| V5R1 | %MONTHS | months | A duration value that can be used in an expression to add or subtract a number of months to a date value. |
| V5R1 | %MSECONDS | milliseconds | A duration value that can be used in an expression to add or subtract a number of milliseconds to a time value. |
| V3R7 | %NULLIND | null-capable field name | Value in indicator format representing the null indicator setting for the null-capable field. |
| V5R1 | %OCCUR | data-structure | The current occurrence of the data structure, or sets the current occurrence of the data structure |
| V4R2 | %OPEN | file name | '1' if the specified file is open '0' if the specified file is closed. Consider this built-in to be an 'Is this file open?" operation. |
| %PADDR | procedure name | Address of procedure | |
|
V3R2 V3R6 |
%PARMS | Number of parameters passed to procedure | |
| V5R1 | %REALLOC | pointer : new-size | Pointer to the allocated storage. |
| V4R4 | %REM | Numerator : Denominator | Performs integer division and returns the remainder from the division operation. |
| V4R2 | %REPLACE | replacement string: source string {:start position {:source length to replace}} | String produced by inserting replacement string into source string, starting at start position and replacing the specified number of characters. |
| V3R7 | %SCAN | search argument : string to be searched {:start position} | First position of search argument in string or zero, if not found. |
| V5R1 | %SECONDS | seconds | A duration value that can be used in an expression to add or subtract a number of seconds to a time value. |
| V5R1 | %SHTDN | *ON if the job is being shut down (e.g., when the PWRDWNSYS command is issued) otherwise *OFF is returned. | |
| %SIZE | variable, data structure, array, or literal {: *ALL} | Number of bytes used by variable or literal. *ALL returns the number of bytes used by all the elements of the array, or all the occurrences of the data structure. | |
| V5R1 | %SQRT | expression or value | The square root of the expression or value. |
| V4R2 | %STATUS | {file name} | 0 if no program or file error occurred since the most recent operation code with extender 'E' specified most recent value set for any program or file status, if an error occurred if a file is specified, the value returned is the most recent status for that file. |
| V3R7 | %STR | pointer{:maximum length} | Characters addressed by pointer argument up to but not including the first x'00'. |
| V5R4 | %SUBARR | array : first elem {: elem-count } | Returns a subset of an array based on the parameters of this built-in function. |
| V5R1 | %SUBDT | date : duration-code | The extracted component of the date value. (The functional equivalent of the EXTRCT operation code.) |
| V3R1 | %SUBST | string:start{:length} | Substring value. If length is not specified, the substring begins with start and continues through the end of the string. |
| V5R1 | %THIS | Used for Java integration. Returns an Object reference. | |
| V5R1 | %TIME | { value { : time-format-code } | A time data-type value after converting the "value" to the specified time format. If no value is specified, the current system time is returned. |
| V5R1 | %TIMESTAMP | {value { : *ISO | *ISO0 } | A timestamp data-type value with or without separators. |
| %TRIM | string { : trim characters } | String with left and right trim-characters trimmed (removed). If no trim-characters are specified, blanks are trimmed. | |
| %TRIML | string { : trim characters } | String with left trim-characters trimmed (removed). If no trim-characters are specified, blanks are trimmed. | |
| %TRIMR | string { : trim characters } | String with right trim-characters trimmed (removed). If no trim-characters are specified, blanks are trimmed. | |
| V4R4 | %UCS2 | Any character value { : ccsid } | Returns a UCS-2 value from the input string. The 2nd parameter is the resulting CCSID which defaults to 13488. |
| V4R2 | %UNS | numeric/character expression | Value in unsigned integer format. |
| V4R2 | %UNSH | numeric/character expression | Half-adjusted value in unsigned integer format. |
| V4R4 | %XFOOT | array | Returns the total (cross-foot) of the elements in the numeric input array. |
| V5R1 | %XLATE | from-table : to-table : string-to-convert { : starting-position } | The converted string is returned. |
| %XML | xml data or document { : options } | Used by the XML-INTO and XML-SAX operation codes to identify the XML being processed. | |
| V5R1 | %YEARS | years | A duration value that can be sued in an expression to add or subtract a number of years to a date value. |