Most MVS or z/OS programs expect commas between parameters, or blanks. But if this is a z/Unix program, the tab probably would be expected.
On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Gord Tomlin <gt.ibm.li...@actionsoftware.com> wrote: > On 2014-01-10 14:47, Charles Mills wrote: >> >> I have a started task that (among many other things) will display its own >> parameters, something like >> >> Parm1=WIDGET >> Parm2=FOOBAR >> >> At present all of the values it displays are printable characters. Due to >> an >> enhancement it is possible that one of the parameters will contain a >> horizontal tab character. A C programmer would expect the display to >> become >> Parm2=FOO\tBAR. MS Word would say FOO^tBAR. But those of you who are "real >> mainframers through and through," how would you expect a tab to be >> represented in a display? The value is going to be all printable >> characters >> 99% of the time so going to hex and character is probably a clumsy >> approach. >> >> Parm2=FOO<tab>BAR >> Parm2=FOO\tBAR >> Parm2=FOO^tBAR >> >> Or what? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Charles > > > It appears to me that you are mixing the display of parameter values > containing tab characters with the methods used to input tab characters in > various languages and tools. > > A C programmer does not expect to see "\t" in a program's output. He/she > expects to see white space until the next tab stop. Similarly, the author of > a Word document expects the tab character to be represented as white space > until the next tab stop. In other words, a tab character shouldn't "appear" > in a display at all. > > However, I understand that you are trying to display the inputs to the > program, presumably for diagnostic purposes. If you want to display the > parameter input exactly as provided by the user, then you might want to show > the parameters in dump format (both character and hexadecimal) and not > attempt to convert the tab character to some other representation. > > -- > > Regards, Gord Tomlin > Action Software International > (a division of Mazda Computer Corporation) > Tel: (905) 470-7113, Fax: (905) 470-6507 > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
