Len

Description

Reports the length of a string or a blob.

Syntax

Len ( stringorblob )

Argument	Description
stringorblob	The string or blob for which you want the length in number of characters or in number of bytes

Returns

Long. Returns a long whose value is the length of stringorblob if it succeeds and -1 if an error occurs. If stringorblob is null, Len returns null.

Usage

Len counts the number of characters in a string. The null that terminates a string is not included in the count.

If you specify a size when you declare a blob, that is the size reported by Len. If you do not specify a size for the blob, Len initially reports the blob’s length as 0. PowerBuilder assigns a size to the blob the first time you assign data to the blob. Len reports the length of the blob as the number characters it can contain.

Examples

Example 1

This statement returns 0:

Len("")

Example 2

These statements store in the variable s_address_len the length of the text in the SingleLineEdit sle_address:

long s_address_len

s_address_len = Len(sle_address.Text)

Example 3

The following scenarios illustrate how the declaration of blobs affects their length, as reported by Len.

In the first example, an instance variable called ib_blob is declared but not initialized with a size. If you call Len before data is assigned to ib_blob, Len returns 0. After data is assigned, Len returns the blob’s new length.

The declaration of the instance variable is:

blob ib_blob

Example 4

The sample code is:

long ll_len

ll_len = Len(ib_blob)  // ll_len set to 0

ib_blob = Blob( "Test String")

ll_len = Len(ib_blob)   // ll_len set to 22

Example 5

In the second example, ib_blob is initialized to the size 100 when it is declared. When you call Len for ib_blob, it always returns 100. This example uses BlobEdit, instead of Blob, to assign data to the blob because its size is already established. The declaration of the instance variable is:

blob{100} ib_blob

Example 6