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WRITE - Cutoff Behavior

This section describes the cutoff behavior of the system, if the target field length for the statement WRITE TO or the output length for the statement WRITE is less than the length required for the predefined format or the format defined using format_options.

The following sections explain the steps involved in truncating data. The result is truncated until it is short enough to fit the available space.

If the individual formatting options deviate from the rules shown here, these deviations are described for the relevant option.

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Executable Example

WRITE TO, Cutoff Behavior

Numeric Data Types

Integers and Packed Numbers

For data objects of numerical data types (b, s), i, int8, and p, the cutoff behavior is as follows:

  • The thousand separators are omitted from left to right.
  • If the value is postive, the sign on the right is omitted. If the value is negative, the minus sign is retained.
  • (b, s), i, int8, and p are truncated on the left and an asterisk ("*") is inserted in the first place for identification purposes.

    • The type int8 produces a syntax check warning (which can be hidden by a pragma), if it is known statically that the output length is less than the predefined length 20.

    Decimal Floating Point Numbers

    For data objects of type decfloat16 and decfloat34, the cutoff behavior is as follows:

  • In mathematical notation, the thousand separators are omitted from left to right.
  • In mathematical notation, the decimal points are rounded commercially. In scientific notation, the mantissa is rounded commercially.
  • If there is not enough space for the places before the decimal point in mathematical notation, the system automatically switches to the scientific notation.
  • The treatable exception CX_SY_CONVERSION_OVERFLOW occurs
    • if the length is not sufficient for the display of at least one whole number place in the mathematical notation or one position of the mantissa in the scientific notation,
    • if the length is not sufficient for the mathematical notation when the output format SIGN_AS_POSTFIX is used for commerical notation,
    • if the length is not sufficient for the output format SCALE_PRESERVING or SCALE_PRESERVING_SCIENTIFIC (where the scaling is preserved),

    The predefined output lengths of 24 or 46 are sufficient for the mathematical notation of 16 or 34 place numbers with an algebraic sign, a decimal point and a corresponding number of thousand separators.

    Binary Floating Point Numbers

    For data objects of type f, the cutoff behavior is as follows:

  • The number of places is reduced and the number is rounded accordingly.
  • If the output length is too short for scientific notation, asterisks ("*") are displayed instead of the numbers.

    • Character-Like and Byte-Like Data Types

    For data types c, string, n, d, t, x and xtring, the cutoff behavior is as follows:

  • In a 12-hour format set using ENVIRONMENT TIME FORMAT for data type t, first the space is removed and then the format is changed to the 24-hour format.
  • For data fields and time fields of type d and t, all separators are removed, unless an addition such as DD/MM/YY or MM/DD/YY is specified for d.
  • The right side is cut off.

    • Time Stamp

    • All separators in date and time are removed. The separators in the date are only not removed if a date formatting mask DD/MM/YY or similar is also specified.

    • The space between date and time is removed.

    • The right-hand side is cut off.


    Example

    This example shows the different cutoff behavior for time stamps in packed numbers in list output using the statement WRITE when compared to all other combinations. The format of the output is shown below the source code.

    DATA(ts) = utclong_current( ). 
DATA(tspl) = cl_abap_tstmp=>utclong2tstmp( ts ). 
DATA text TYPE c LENGTH 24. 

SET COUNTRY 'US'. 
WRITE ts TO text   TIME ZONE 'UTC'. 
WRITE AT / text. 
WRITE tspl TO text TIME ZONE 'UTC'. 
WRITE AT / text. 
WRITE: AT /(24) ts   TIME ZONE 'UTC', 
       AT /(24) tspl TIME ZONE 'UTC'.

    04/08/2019 08:10:16.1539
    04/08/2019 08:10:16,1539
    04/08/2019 08:10:16.1539
    04082019 081016.1539740

    Continue

    WRITE TO, Cutoff Behavior