Repeated Characters in SQL

February 2, 2005 Hey, Ted

Using SQL, how do I fill a 128-byte character field with asterisks? Please don’t tell me I have to key every one of those puppies into my SQL command.

–Jack

I’ve got good news. Use the SPACE function to generate 128 spaces. Use the TRANSLATE function to convert the spaces into asterisks.

insert into somefile (somefield)
        values (translate(space(128),'*',' '))

Or use the REPLACE function to convert the spaces into asterisks.

insert into somefile (somefield)
        values (replace(space(128),' ','*'))

I haven’t run any speed tests, but TRANSLATE seems to run faster than REPLACE.

If you had wanted to fill your field with

Yet Another Way to Build CSV Files

February 2, 2005 Hey, Ted

I know offshoring gets a lot of blame for the decline in programmer positions these days, but there’s another culprit that I never hear about: the vast array of reporting and data-mining tools available to users.

Twenty years ago a programmer had to write code to build a report program. Now users create their own reports with Microsoft Excel. In my shop, that means we have lots of programs that create CSV (comma-separated values) files. Let me add a simple but effective technique to the Copy to Import File (CPYTOIMPF) command and the plethora of third-party products that create files

Admin Alert: Things to Check After Upgrading OS/400 V5R1 to V5R3

February 2, 2005 Joe Hertvik

In the last few columns, I’ve covered basic information on upgrading a multipartitioned OS/400 V5R1 machine to V5R3 (i5/OS). This time, I’ll switch gears and cover some items to check after the upgrade is done. Here are some things that I recently discovered after performing three such upgrades.

Checking Out What’s Changed

The best reference for finding V5R3 operating system changes is an IBM manual called iSeries Memorandum to Users: Version 5 Release 3 (June 2004 Update) (in PDF format). This manual reviews many of the changes IBM made between OS/400 V5R2 and V5R3, and it should be