date Field Functions

Orchestrate performs no automatic type conversion of date fields. Either an input data set
must match the operator interface or you must effect a type conversion by means of the
transform or modify operator.

21 32 Orchestrate 7.5 Operators Reference date format The default format of the date

contained in the string is yyyy-mm-dd. However, you can specify an optional format string
that defines another format. The format string requires that you provide enough information
for Orchestrate to determine a complete date (either day, month, and year, or year and day of
year). The date components of a source string (date, month, and year) must be zero-padded
to the character length specified by the format string. Orchestrate zero pads the date
components of a destination string to the specified length. The possible format components
are:

  %dd: A two digit day.

  %mm: A two digit month.
  %yy: A two digit year derived from a year cutoff of 1900.
  %year_cutoffyy: A two digit year derived from yy and the specified year cutoff. (For
example, if you specify the year format as %2000yy, two-digit values which represent years
from 2000-2099 are imported and exported.)
  %yyyy: A four digit year.
  %ddd: Day of year in three digit form (range of 1 - 366) The default date format is as
follows:

%yyyy-%mm-%dd When you specify a date format string, prefix each component with the
percent symbol (%). Separate the string’s components with any character except the percent
sign (%).

For example, the format string %mm/%dd/%yyyy specifies that slashes separate the string’s
date components; the format %ddd-%yy specifies that the string stores the date as a value
from 1 to 366, derives the year from the current year cutoff of 1900, and separates the two
components with a dash (-).

Function Description

 date date_from_days_since

(int32, “date�? | format_variable) Returns date by adding the given integer to the baseline
date. Converts an integer field into a date by adding the integer to the specified base date.
The date must be in the format yyyy-mm-dd and must be either double quoted or a variable.

 date date_from_julian_day(uint32) Returns the date given a Julian day.

 date date_from_string

(string, "date_format" | date_uformat | format_variable) Returns a date from the given string
formatted in the optional format specification. By default the string format is yyyy-mm-dd.
 date date_from_ustring

(string, "date_format" | date_uformat | format_variable) Returns a date from the given

ustring formatted in the optional format specification. By default the ustring format is yyyy-
mm-dd.

 string string_from_date

(date, "date_format" | date_uformat) Converts the date to a string representation using the
given format specification. By default the ustring format is yyyy-mm-dd.

 ustring ustring_from_date

(date, "date_format" | date_uformat) Converts the date to a ustring representation using the
given format specification. By default the ustring format is yyyy-mm-dd.

 date date_from_timestamp(timestamp) Returns the date from the given timestamp.

 int32 days_since_from_date

(date, “source_date�? | format_variable) Returns a value corresponding to the number of

days from source_date to date. source_date must be in the form yyyy-mm-dd and must be
double quoted or be a variable.

 uint32 julian_day_from_date(date) Returns a Julian date given the date.

 int8 month_day_from_date(date) Returns the day of the month given the date. For

example, the date 07-23-2001 returns 23.

 int8 month_from_date(date) Returns the month from the given date. For example,

the date 07-23-2001 returns 7.

 date next_weekday_from_date

(date, “day�? | format_variable) The value returned is the date of the specified day of the
week soonest after date (including the date). The day argument is optional. It is a string or
variable specifying a day of the week. You can specify day by either the first three characters
of the day name or the full day name. By default, the value is Sunday.

 date previous_weekday_from_date

(date, "day" | format_variable) Returns the previous weekday date from date. The destination
contains the closest date for the specified day of the week earlier than the source date
(including the source date) The day argument is optional. It is a string or variable specifying a
day of the week. You can specify day using either the first three characters of the day name or
the full day name. By default, the value is Sunday.

 int8 weekday_from_date
 (date, "origin_day" | format_variable) Returns the day of the week from date. The optional
argument origin_day is a string or variable specifying the day considered to be day zero of the
week. You can specify the day using either the first three characters of the day name or the
full day name. If omitted, Sunday is day zero.

 int16 year_day_from_date(date) Returns the day of the year (1-366) from date.
 int16 year_from_date(date) Returns the year from date. For example, the date 07-

23-2001 returns 2001.

 int8 year_week_from_date(date) Returns the week of the year from date. For
example,

the date 07-23-2001 returns 30.

decimal and float Field Functions

You can do the following transformations using the decimal and float field functions.

 Assign a decimal to an integer or float or numeric string, or compare a decimal to an

integer or float or numeric string.
 Specify an optional fix_zero argument (int8) to cause a decimal field containing all
zeros to be treated as a valid zero.
 Optionally specify a value for the rounding type (r_type) for many conversions. The
values of r_type are:

– ceil: Round the source field toward positive infinity. This mode corresponds to the IEEE 754
Round Up mode. Examples: 1.4 -> 2, -1.6 -> -1 – floor: Round the source field toward
negative infinity. This mode corresponds to the IEEE 754 Round Down mode. Examples: 1.6
-> 1, -1.4 -> -2 – round_inf: Round or truncate the source field toward the nearest
representable value, breaking ties by rounding positive values toward positive infinity and
negative values toward negative infinity. This mode corresponds to the COBOL ROUNDED
mode. Examples: 1.4 -> 1, 1.5 -> 2, -1.4 -> -1, -1.5 -> -2

– trunc_zero (default): Discard any fractional digits to the right of the rightmost fractional
digit supported in the destination, regardless of sign. For example, if the destination is an
integer, all fractional digits are truncated. If the destination is another decimal with a smaller
scale, round or truncate to the scale size of the destination decimal. This mode corresponds to
the COBOL INTEGER-PART function. Examples: 1.6 -> 1, -1.6 -> -1

 decimal decimal_from_decimal

(decimal, "r_type" | format_variable) Returns decimal in decimal representation, changing the

precision and scale according to the returned type. The rounding type, r_type, may be ceil,
floor, round_inf, or trunc_zero as described above this table. The default rtype is trunc_zero.

 decimal decimal_from_dfloat
 (dfloat, "r_type" | format_variable) Returns dfloat in decimal representation. The rounding
type, r_type, may be ceil, floor, round_inf, or trunc_zero as described above this table. The
default is trunc_zero.

 decimal decimal_from_string

(string, "r_type" | format_variable) Returns string in decimal representation. The rounding

type, r_type, may be ceil, floor, round_inf, or trunc_zero as described above this table. The
default is trunc_zero.

 decimal decimal_from_ustring

(ustring, "r_type" | format_variable) Returns ustring in decimal representation. The rounding

type, r_type, may be ceil, floor, round_inf, or trunc_zero as described above this table. The
default is trunc_zero.

 dfloat dfloat_from_decimal

(decimal, “fix-zero�? | format_variable) Returns decimal in dfloat representation.

 int32 int32_from_decimal

(decimal, "r_type fix_zero") Returns int32 in decimal representation. The rounding type,
r_type, may be ceil, floor, round_inf, or trunc_zero as described above this table. The default
is trunc_zero.

 int64 int64_from_decimal

(decimal, "r_type fix_zero") Returns int32 in decimal representation. The rounding type,
r_type, may be ceil, floor, round_inf, or trunc_zero as described above this table. The default
is trunc_zero.

 uint64 uint64_from_decimal

(decimal, "r_type fix_zero") Returns uint64 in decimal representation. The rounding type,
r_type, may be ceil, floor, round_inf, or trunc_zero as described above this table. The default
is trunc_zero.

 string string_from_decimal

(decimal, "fix_zero suppress zero") Returns string in decimal representation. fix_zero causes a
decimal field containing all zeros to be treated as a valid zero. suppress_zero argument
specifies that the returned ustring value will have no leading or trailing zeros. Examples:
000.100 -> 0.1; 001.000 -> 1; -001.100 -> -1.1

 ustring ustring_from_decimal

(decimal, "fix_zero suppress_zero�? | format_variable) Returns ustring in decimal

representation. fix_zero causes a decimal field containing all zeros to be treated as a valid
 zero. suppress_zero argument specifies that the returned ustring value will have no leading or
trailing zeros. Examples: 000.100 -> 0.1; 001.000 -> 1; -001.100 -> -1.1

 string string_from_decimal

(decimal, “fix_zero suppress_zero�? | format_variable) Returns ustring in decimal

representation. fix_zero causes a decimal field containing all zeros to be treated as a valid
zero. suppress_zero argument specifies that the returned ustring value will have no leading or
trailing zeros. Examples: 000.100 -> 0.1; 001.000 -> 1; -001.100 -> -1.1

 dfloat mantissa_from_dfloat(dfloat) Returns the mantissa (the digits right of the

decimal point) from dfloat.
 dfloat mantissa_from_decimal

(decimal) Returns the mantissa (the digits right of the decimal point) from decimal.

raw Field Functions

Use the raw field functions to transform a string into a raw data type and to determine the
length of a raw value.

 raw raw_from_string(string) Returns string in raw representation.

 raw u_raw_from_string(ustring) Returns ustring in raw representation.
 int32 raw_length(raw) Returns the length of the raw field.

time and timestamp Field Functions

Orchestrate performs no automatic conversions to or from the time and timestamp data types.
You must use the modify or transform operator if you want to convert a source or destination
field. Most field conversions extract a portion of the time, such as hours or minutes, and write
it into a destination field. Time conversion to a numeric field can be used with any Orchestrate
numeric data type. Orchestrate performs the necessary modifications to translate a conversion
result to the numeric data type of the destination. For example, you can use the
transformation function hours_from_time() to convert a time to an int8, or to an int16, int32,
dfloat, and so on. The string_from_time() and time_from_string() conversion functions take a
format as a parameter of the conversion. The default format of the time in the string is
hh:nn:ss. However, you can specify an optional format string defining another time format.
The format string must contain a specification for hours, minutes, and seconds.

 time Uformat

The time uformat provides support for international components in time fields. It’s syntax is:
string%macroString%macroString%macroString where %macro is a time formatting macro
such as %hh for a two-digit hour. See “time Format�? below for a description of the date
 format macros. Only the String components of time uformat can include multi-byte Unicode
characters.

 timestamp Uformat

This format is a concatenation of the date uformat and time uformat which are described in
“date Uformat�? on page 21--33 and “time Uformat�? on page 21--38. The order of the
formats does not matter, but the two formats cannot be mixed.

 time Format

The time components of a source string (hours, minutes, and seconds) must be zero padded
to the character length specified by the format string; Orchestrate zero pads the time
components of a destination string to the specified length. The components of the format
string are:

  %hh: A two-digit hours component.

  %nn: A two-digit minutes component.
  %ss: A two-digit seconds component.
  %ss.n: A two-digit seconds component plus a fractional part, where n is the number
of fractional digits with a maximum value of 6. If n is 0, no decimal point is printed as part of
the seconds component. Trailing zeros are not suppressed. For example, a format string
of %hh:%nn:%ss.4 indicates that the * string contains the seconds to four decimal places.

The default time format is as follows: %hh:%nn:%ss When you specify a time format string,
prefix each component with the percent symbol (%). Separate the string’s components with
any character except the percent sign (%).

time Field and timestamp Field Functions

 int8 hours_from_time(time) Returns the hour portion of the given time.

 int32 microseconds_from_time(time) Returns the number of microseconds from the

given time.

 dfloat midnight_seconds_from_time

(time) Returns the number of seconds from midnight to

 time.
 int8 minutes_from_time(time) Returns the number of minutes from time.
 dfloat seconds_from_time(time) Returns the number of seconds from time.
 dfloat seconds_since_from_timestamp

(timestamp, "source_timestamp_string" | format_variable) Returns the number of seconds

from timestamp to the base timestamp, or optionally the second timestamp argument for the
number of seconds between timestamps. The source_timestamp_string argument must be
double quoted or be a variable.

 time time_from_midnight_seconds(dfloat) Returns the time given the number of

seconds (dfloat) since midnight.
 time time_from_string

(string, time_format | time_uformat | format_variable) Returns a time representation of string

using the optional time_format, time_uformat, or format_variable. By default, the time format
is hh:nn:ss.

 time time_from_ustring

(ustring, time_format | time_uformat | format_variable) Returns a time representation of

ustring using the optional time_format, time_uformat, or format_variable specification. By
default, the time format is hh:nn:ss.

 string string_from_time

(time, "time_format" | format_variable | time_uformat) Returns a string from time. The

format argument is optional.The default time format is hh:nn:ss.

 time time_from_timestamp(timestamp) Returns the time from timestamp.

 date date_from_timestamp(timestamp) Returns the date from the given timestamp.
 timestamp timestamp_from_date_time

(date, time) Returns a timestamp from date and time. The date specifies the date portion
(yyyy-nn-dd) of the timestamp. The time argument specifies the time to be used when
building the timestamp. The time argument must be in the hh:nn:ss format.

 timestamp timestamp_from_seconds_since

(dfloat, "original_timestamp_string" | format_variable) Returns the timestamp from the

number of seconds (dfloat) from the base timestamp or the original_timestamp_string
argument. The original_timestamp_string must be double quoted or be a variable.

 timestamp timestamp_from_string

(string, "timestamp_format" | timestamp_uformat | format_variable) Returns a timestamp

from string, in the optional timestamp_format, timestamp_uformat, or format_variable. The
timestamp_format must be double quoted or be a variable. The default format is yyyy-nn-dd
hh:nn:ss.

 timestamp timestamp_from_ustring

(ustring, "timestamp_format" | timestamp_uformat | format_variable) Returns a timestamp

from ustring, in the optional format specification. The timestamp_format must be a double
quoted string, a uformat, or a variable. The default format is yyyy-nn-dd hh:nn:ss.

 string string_from_timestamp

(timestamp, "timestamp_format" | format_variable) Returns a string from timestamp. The

formatting specification is optional. The default format is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.

 ustring ustring_from_timestamp
 (timestamp, "timestamp_format" | format_variable) Returns a ustring from timestamp. The
formatting specification is optional. The default format is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.

 timestamp timestamp_from_time(time, time_format | time_uformat)

Returns a timestamp from time. date date_from_timestamp(timestamp) Returns the date

from the given timestamp.

 timestamp timestamp_from_timet(int32) Returns a timestamp from the given UNIX

time_t representation (int32).
 int32 timet_from_timestamp(timestamp) Returns the UNIX time_t representation of
timestamp.

Null Handling Functions

All Orchestrate data types support nulls. As part of processing a record, an operator can detect
a null and take the appropriate action, for example, it can omit the null field from a calculation
or signal an error condition. Orchestrate represents nulls in two ways.

 It allocates a single bit to mark a field as null. This type of representation is

called an out-of-band null.

 It designates a specific field value to indicate a null, for example a numeric

field’s most negative possible value. This type of representation is called an inband null. In-
band null representation can be disadvantageous because you must reserve a field value for
nulls and this value cannot be treated as valid data elsewhere.

The null-handling functions can change a null representation from an out-of-band null to an in-
band null and from an in-band null to an out-of-band null.

 destination_field handle_null

(source_field, value) Change the source_field NULL representations from out-ofband

representation to an in-band representation. The value field assigns the value that
corresponds to NULL.

 destination_field make_null

(source_field, value) Changes source_field NULL representation from in-band NULL

representation to out-of-band. The value field allows multiple valid NULL values to be inputted
as arguments.

 int8 notnull(source_field) Returns 1 if source_field is not NULL, otherwise returns 0.

 int8 null(source_field) Returns 1 if source_field is NULL, otherwise returns 0.
 set_null() This function is used with “=�? to set the left side output field, when it is
nullable, to null. For example:

a-field = set_null();
 int8 is_dfloat_inband_null

(dfloat) Returns 1 if dfloat is an inband null; otherwise it returns 0.

 int8 is_int16_inband_null

(int16) Returns 1 if int16 is an inband null; otherwise it returns 0.

 int8 is_int32_inband_null

(int32) Returns 1 if int32 is an inband null; otherwise it returns 0.

 int8 is_int64_inband_null

(int64) Returns 1 if int64 is an inband null; otherwise it returns 0.

 int8 is_sfloat_inband_null

(sfloat) Returns 1 if sfloat is an inband null; otherwise it returns 0.

 int8 is_string_inband_null

(string) Returns 1 if string is an inband null; otherwise it returns 0.

 int8 u_is_string_inband_null

(ustring) Returns 1 if ustring is an inband null; otherwise it returns 0. Note Null-handling

functions cannot be used for subrecord fields.

Mathematical Functions
 int32 abs(int32) Returns the absolute value of int32.
 dfloat acos(dfloat) Returns the principal value of the arc cosine of dfloat.
 dfloat asin(dfloat) Returns the principal value of the arc sine of dfloat.
 dfloat atan(dfloat) Returns the principal value of the arc tangent of dfloat.
 dfloat atan2(dfloat, dfloat) Returns the principal value of the arc tangent of y/x (where
y is the first argument).
 int ceil(decimal) Returns the smallest integer value greater than or equal to

decimal.

 dfloat cos(dfloat) Returns the cosine of the given angle (dfloat) expressed in

radians.

 dfloat cosh(dfloat) Returns the hyperbolic cosine of dfloat.

 dfloat exp(dfloat) Returns the exponential of dfloat.
 dfloat fabs(dfloat) Returns the absolute value of dfloat.
 int floor(decimal) Returns the largest integer value less than or equal to decimal.
 dfloat ldexp(dfloat, int32) Reconstructs dfloat out of the mantissa and exponent of
int32.
 uint64 llabs(int64) Returns the absolute value of int64.
 dfloat log(dfloat) Returns the natural (base e) logarithm of dfloat.
 dfloat log10(dfloat) Returns the logarithm to the base 10 of dfloat.
 int32 max(int32, int32) Returns the larger of the two integers.
 int32 min(int32, int32) Returns the smaller of the two integers.
 dfloat pow(dfloat, dfloat) Returns the result of raising x (the first argument) to the
power y (the second argument).
 uint32 rand() Returns a pseudo-random integer between 0 and 232 - 1. The function
uses a multiplicative congruential random-number generator with period 232. See the UNIX
man page for rand for more details.
 dfloat sin(dfloat) Returns the sine of dfloat expressed in radians.
 dfloat sinh(dfloat) Returns the hyperbolic sine of dfloat.
 dfloat sqrt(dfloat) Returns the square root of dfloat.
 int32 quotient_from_dfloat

(dfloat1, dfloat2) Returns the value of the quotient after dfloat1 is divided bydfloat2.

 srand(uint32) Sets a new seed (uint32) for the frand() or srand() random number
generator.
 srandom(uint32) Sets a random seed for the random() number generator. See the
UNIX man page for srandom for more details.
 dfloat tan(dfloat) Returns the tangent of the given angle (dfloat) expressed in

radians.

 dfloat tanh(dfloat) Returns the hyperbolic tangent of dfloat.

 random() Returns a random integer between 0 and 231 - 1. The function uses a
nonlinear additive feedback random-number generator employing a default state array size of
31 long integers to return successive pseudo-random numbers. The period of this random-
number generator is approximately 16 x (231 - 1).

Compared with rand, random is slower but more random. See the UNIX man page for random
for more details.

string Field Functions

Strings can be assigned (=), compared (==, <, >=, etc.), and concatenated (+) in the
Transformation Language. In addition, the functions described in the first list below are
available for string manipulations, and the functions described in second list are available for
ustring manipulations. When a long string is assigned to a short string, the long string is
truncated to the length of the short string. The term white space refers to spaces, tabs, and
any other blank space.

 string Conversions and Lookup Tables

You can construct a string lookup table to use when default conversions do not yield
satisfactory results. A string lookup table is a table of two columns and as many rows as are
required to perform a conversion to or from a string as shown below. Each row of the lookup
table specifies an association between a 16-bit integer or unsigned 32-bit integer value and a
string or ustring. Orchestrate scans the Numeric Value or the String or Ustring column until it
encounters the value or string to be translated. The output is the corresponding entry in the
row. The numeric value to be converted may be of the int16 or the uint32 data type.
Orchestrate converts strings to values of the int16 or uint32 data type using the same table. If
 the input contains a numeric value or string that is not listed in the table, Orchestrate
operates as follows:

 If a numeric value is unknown, an empty string is returned by default. However, you

can set a default string value to be returned by the string lookup table.
 If a string has no corresponding value, 0 is returned by default. However, you can set
a default numeric value to be returned by the string lookup table.

A table definition defines the rows of a string or ustring lookup table and has the following
form: {propertyList} ('string' | 'ustring' = value; 'string' | 'ustring'= value; ... ) where:

 propertyList is one or more of the following options; the entire list is enclosed in
braces and properties are separated by commas if there are more than one:
 case_sensitive: perform a case-sensitive search for matching strings; the default is
case-insensitive.
 default_value = defVal: the default numeric value returned for a string that does not
match any of the strings in the table.
 default_string = defString: the default string returned for numeric values that do not
match any numeric value in the table.

A String Lookup Table Numeric Value String or Ustring numVal1 string1 | ustring1 numVal2
string2 | ustring1 ... ... numVal3 stringn | ustringn

 string or ustring specifies a comma-separated list of strings or ustrings associated with

value; enclose each string or ustring in quotes.
 value specifies a comma-separated list of 16-bit integer values associated with string
or ustring.

string Field Functions

 int8 is_alnum(string) Returns 1 (true) if string consists entirely of alphanumeric

characters.

 int8 is_alpha(string) Returns 1 (true) if string consists entirely of alphabetic

characters.

 int8 is_numeric(string) Returns 1 (true) if string consists entirely of numeric

characters, including decimal and sign.

 int8 is_valid

("type_string", "value_string") Returns 1 (true) if value_string is valid according to

type_string, including NULL. The type_string argument is required. It must specify an
Orchestrate schema data type. integer types are checked to ensure the value_string is
numeric (signed or unsigned), a whole number, and a valid value (for example, 1024 can not
be assigned to an int8 type). Decimal types are checked to ensure the value_string is numeric
(signed or unsigned) and a valid value. Float types are checked to ensure the value_string is
numeric (signed or unsigned) and a valid value (exponent is valid). String is always valid with
the NULL exception below. For all types, if the field cannot be set to NULL and the string is
 NULL, 0 (false) is returned. Date, time, and timestamp types are checked to ensure they are
correct, using the optional format argument, and valid values. Raw cannot be checked since
the input is a string.

 int16 lookup_int16_from_string

(string , "table_definition" | table_variable) Returns an integer corresponding to string using

table_definition string or variable.

 string lookup_string_from_int16

(int16 , "table_definition" | table_variable) Returns a string corresponding to int16 using

table_definition string or variable.

 string lookup_string_from_uint32

(uint32 , "table_definition" | table_variable) Returns a string corresponding to uint32 using

table_definition string or variable. * uint32 lookup_uint32_from_string (string ,
"table_definition" | table_variable) Returns an unsigned integer from string using
table_definition string or variable.

 string lower_case(string) Converts string to lowercase. Non-alphabetic characters

are ignored in the transformation.

 string string_from_date

(date, "date_format" | format_variable | date_uformat) Converts date to a string

representation using the specified optional formatting specification. By default, the date
format is yyyy-mm-dd.

 string string_from_decimal

(decimal, “fix_zero suppress_zero�? | format_variable) Returns a string from decimal.

fix_zero causes a decimal field containing all zeros to be treated as a valid zero. suppress_zero
argument specifies that the returned ustring value will have no leading or trailing zeros.
Examples: 000.100 -> 0.1; 001.000 -> 1; -001.100 -> -1.1 The formatting specification is
optional.

 string string_from_time

(time, "time_format" | format_variable | time_uformat) Returns a string from time. The

format argument is optional.The default time format is hh:nn:ss.

 string string_from_timestamp

(timestamp, "timestamp_format" | format_variable) Returns a string from timestamp. The

formatting specification is optional. The default format is yyyy-mmdd hh:mm:ss.

 string soundex
 (input_string, length, censusOption) Returns a string which represents the phonetic code for
the string input word. Input words that produce the same code are considered phonetically
equivalent. The empty string is returned if the input string is empty. length is an int8 and can
be any value between 4 and 10. The default is 4. censusOption can be 0, 1, or 2 where 0 (the
default) is enhanced soundex and not a census code; 1 are the normal census codes used in
all censuses from 1920 on; and 2 are special census codes used intermittently in 1880, 1900,
and 1910.

 string upper_case(string) Converts string to uppercase. Non-alphabetic characters

are ignored in the transformation.

 string compact_whitespace

(string) Returns a string after reducing all consecutive white space in string to a single space.

 string pad_string

(string, pad_string, pad_length) Returns the string with the pad_string appended to the
bounded length string for pad_length number of characters. pad_length is an int16. When the
given string is a variable-length string, it defaults to a bounded-length of 1024 characters. If
the given string is a fixed-length string, this function has no effect.

 string strip_whitespace(string)

Returns string after stripping all white space in the string.

 string trim_leading_trailing

(string) Returns string after removing all leading and trailing white space.

 string trim_leading(string) Returns a string after removing all leading white space.
 string trim_trailing(string) Returns a string after removing all trailing white space.
 int32 string_order_compare

(string1, string2, justification) Returns a numeric value specifying the result of the
comparison. The numeric values are: -1: string1 is less than string2 0: string1 is equal to
string2 1: string1 is greater than string2 The string justification argument is either 'L' or 'R'. It
defaults to 'L' if not specified. 'L' means a standard character comparison, left to right. 'R'
means that any numeric substrings within the strings starting at the same position are
compared as numbers. For example an 'R' comparison of “AB100�? and “AB99�? indicates
that AB100 is great than AB99, since 100 is greater than 99. The comparisons are case
sensitive.

 string replace_substring

(expression1, expression2, string) Returns a string value that contains the given string, with
any characters in expression1 replaced by their corresponding characters in expression2. For
 example: replace_substring (“ABC:, “abZ�?, “AGDCBDA�?) returns “aGDZbDa�?, where any
“A�? gets replaced by “a�?, any “B�? gets replaced by “b�? and any “C�? gets replaced by
“Z�?. If expression2 is longer than expression1, the extra characters are ignored. If
expression1 is longer than expression2, the extra characters in expression1 are deleted from
the given string (the corresponding characters are removed.) For example:
replace_substring("ABC", "ab", "AGDCBDA") returns "aGDbDa".

 int32 count_substring

(string, substring) Returns the number of times that substring occurs in

 string. If substring is an empty string, the number of

characters in string is returned.

 int32 dcount_substring

(string, delimiter) Returns the number of fields in string delimited by delimiter, where
delimiter is a string. For example, dcount_substring(“abcFdefFghi�?, “F�?) returns 3. If
delimiter is an empty string, the number of characters in the string + 1 is returned. If
delimiter is not empty, but does not exist in the given string, 1 is returned.

 string double_quote_string

(expression) Returns the given string expression enclosed in double quotes.

 string substring_by_delimiter

(string, delimiter, occurrence, numsubstr) The string and delimiter argumets are string values,
and the occurrence and numsubstr arguments are int32 values. This function returns
numsubstr substrings from string, delimited by delimiter and starting at substring number
occurence. An example is: substring_by_delimiter (“abcFdefFghiFjkl�?, “F�?, 2, 2) The string
“defFghi�? is returned. If occurence is < 1, then 1 is assumed. If occurence does not point to
an existing field, the empty string is returned. If numsubstr is not specified or is less than 1, it
defaults to 1.

 int32 index_of_substring

(string, substring, occurrence) Returns the starting position of the nth occurrence of substring
in string. The occurrence argument is an integer indicating the nth occurrence. If there is no
nth occurrence or string doesn’t contain any substring, -1 is returned. If substring is an empty
string, -2 is returned.

 string left_substring

(string, length) Returns the first length characters of string. If length is 0, it returns the empty
string. If length is greater than the length of the string, the entire string is returned.

 string right_substring
 (string, length) Returns the last length characters of string. If length is 0, it returns the empty
string. If length is greater than the length of string, the entire string is returned.

 string string_of_space(count) Returns a string containing count spaces. The empty

string is returned for a count of 0 or less.
 string single_quote_string

(expression) Returns the expression string enclosed in single quotes.

 string string_of_substring

(string, count) Returns a string containing count occurrences of string. The empty string is
returned for a count of 0 or less.

 string trimc_string

(string [,character [,option]]) If only string is specified, all leading and trailing spaces and tabs
are removed, and all multiple occurrences of spaces and tabs are reduced to a single space or
tab. If string and character are specified, option defaults to 'R' The available option values are:
'A' remove all occurrences of character 'B' remove both leading and trailing occurrences of
character. 'D' remove leading, trailing, and redundant whitespace characters. 'E' remove
trailing white-space characters 'F' remove leading white-space characters 'L' remove all
leading occurrences of character 'R' remove all leading, trailing, and redundant occurrences of
character 'T' remove all trailing occurrences of character

 string system_time_date() Returns the current system time in this 24-hour format:

hh:mm:ss dd:mmm:yyyy

 int32 offset_of_substring

(string, substring, position) Searches for the substring in the string beginning at character
number position, where position is an uint32. Returns the starting position of the substring.

 int8 string_case_compare

(string, string) This is a case-insensitive version of string_compare() below.

 int8 string_compare

(string, string) Compares two strings and returns the index (0 or 1) of the greater string.

 int8 string_num_case_compare

(string, string, uint16) This is a case-insensitive version of string_num_compare() below.

 string string_num_concatenate

(string, string, uint16) Returns a string after appending uint16 characters from the second
string onto the first string.

 int8 string_num_compare
 (string, string, uint16) Compares first uint16 characters of two given strings and returns the
index (0 or 1) of the greater string.

 string string_num_copy

(string, uint16) Returns the first uint16 characters from the given string int32
string_length(string) Returns the length of the string.

 string substring

(string, starting_position, length) Copies parts of strings to shorter strings by string

extraction. The starting_position specifies the starting location of the substring; length
specifies the substring length. The arguments starting_position and length are uint16 types
and must be positive (>= 0).

 string char_from_num(int32) Returns an ASCII character from the given int32. If

given a value that is not associated with a character such as -1, the function returns a space.

An example use is: char_from_num(38) which returns "&"

 int32 num_from_char(string) Returns the numeric value of the ASCII-character in the

string. When this function is given an empty string, it returns 0; and when it is given a multi-
character string, it uses the first character in the string.

An example use is: num_from_char("&") which returns 38.

ustring Field Functions

Orchestrate provides the ustring type for multi-byte Unicode-character strings. ustrings can be
assigned (=), compared (==, <, >=, etc.), and concatenated (+) in the Transformation
Language. The term white space refers to spaces, tabs, and any other blank space.

 ustring ustring_from_date

(date, "date_format" | date_format | format_variable) Converts date to a ustring

representation using the optional format specification. By default, the format is yyyy-mm-dd.

 ustring ustring_from_decimal

(decimal, "fix_zero suppress_zero�? | format_variable) Returns a ustring from decimal.

fix_zero causes a decimal field containing all zeros to be treated as a valid zero. suppress_zero
argument specifies that the returned ustring value will have no leading or trailing zeros.
Examples: 000.100 -> 0.1; 001.000 -> 1; -001.100 -> -1.1 The format specification is
optional. ustring ustring_from_time (time, "time_format" | time_uformat | format_variable)
Returns a ustring from time using an optional format specification.The default time format is
hh:nn:ss.

 ustring ustring_from_timestamp
 (timestamp, "timestamp_format" | format_variable) Returns a ustring from timestamp. The
format specification is optional. The default format is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.

 int8 u_is_alnum(ustring) Returns 1 (true) if ustring consists entirely of alphanumeric

characters.
 int8 u_is_alpha(ustring) Returns 1 (true) if ustring consists entirely of alphabetic
characters.
 int8 u_is_numeric(ustring) Returns 1 (true) if ustring consists entirely of numeric

characters, including decimal and sign.

 int16 lookup_int16_from_ustring

(ustring , "table_definition" | table_variable) Returns an integer corresponding to ustring using

table_definition string or variable.

 ustring lookup_ustring_from_int16

(int16 , "table_definition" | table_variable) Returns a ustring corresponding to int16 using

table_definition string or variable. * ustring lookup_ustring_from_uint32 (uint32 ,
"table_definition" | table_variable) Returns a ustring corresponding to uint32 using
table_definition string or variable. * uint32 lookup_uint32_from_ustring (string ,
"table_definition" | table_variable) Returns an unsigned integer from ustring using
table_definition string or variable. int8 u_is_valid ("type_ustring", "value_ustring") Returns 1
(true) if value_ustring is valid according to type_ustring, including NULL. The type_ustring
argument is required. It must specify an Orchestrate schema data type. Integer types are
checked to ensure the value_ustring is numeric (signed or unsigned), a whole number, and a
valid value (for example, 1024 can not be assigned to an int8 type). Decimal types are
checked to ensure the value_ustring is numeric (signed or unsigned) and a valid value. Float
types are checked to ensure the value_ustring is numeric (signed or unsigned) and a valid
value (exponent is valid). String is always valid with the NULL exception below. For all types, if
the field cannot be set to NULL and the string is NULL, 0 (false) is returned. Date, time, and
timestamp types are checked to ensure they are correct, using the optional format argument,
and valid values. Raw cannot be checked since the input is a string. ustring
u_lower_case(ustring) Converts ustring to lowercase. Non-alphabetic characters are ignored in
the transformation.

 ustring u_upper_case(ustring)

Converts ustring to uppercase. Non-alphabetic characters are ignored in the transformation.

 ustring u_compact_whitespace (ustring)

Returns the ustring after reducing all consecutive white space in ustring to a single space.

 ustring u_pad_string
 (ustring, pad_ustring, pad_length) Returns the ustring with pad_ustring appended to the
bounded length string for pad_length number of characters. pad_length is an int16. When the
given ustring is a variable-length string, it defaults to a bounded-length of 1024 characters. If
the given ustring is a fixed-length string, this function has no effect.

 ustring u_strip_whitespace

(ustring) Returns ustring after stripping all white space in the string.

 ustring u_trim_leading_trailing

(ustring) Returns ustring after removing all leading and trailing white space.

 ustring u_trim_leading(ustring) Returns ustring after removing all leading white space.
 ustring u_trim_trailing

(ustring) Returns a ustring after removing all trailing white space.

 int32 u_string_order_compare

(ustring1, ustring2, justification) Returns a numeric value specifying the result of the
comparison. The numeric values are: -1: ustring1 is less than ustring2 0: ustring1 is equal to
ustring2 1: ustring1 is greater than ustring2 The string justification argument is either 'L' or
'R'. It defaults to 'L' if not specified. 'L' means a standard character comparison, left to right.
'R' means that any numeric substrings within the strings starting at the same position are
compared as numbers. For example an 'R' comparison of “AB100�? and “AB99�? indicates
that AB100 is great than AB99, since 100 is greater than 99. The comparisons are case
sensitive.

 ustring u_replace_substring

(expression1, expression2, ustring) Returns a ustring value that contains the given ustring,
with any characters in expression1 replaced by their corresponding characters in expression2.
For example: u_replace_substring (“ABC", “abZ�?, “AGDCBDA�?) returns “aGDZbDa�?,
where any “A�? gets replaced by “a�?, any “B�? gets replaced by “b�? and any “C�? gets
replaced by “Z�?. If expression2 is longer than expression1, the extra characters are ignored.
If expression1 is longer than expression2, the extra characters in expression1 are deleted
from the given string (the corresponding characters are removed.) For example:
u_replace_substring("ABC", "ab", "AGDCBDA") returns "aGDbDa".

 int32 u_count_substring

(ustring, sub_ustring) Returns the number of times that sub_ustring occurs in ustring. If
sub_ustring is an empty string, the number of characters in ustring is returned.

 int32 u_dcount_substring
 (ustring, delimiter) Returns the number of fields in ustring delimited by delimiter, where
delimiter is a string. For example, dcount_substring(“abcFdefFghi�?, “F�?) returns 3. If
delimiter is an empty string, the number of characters in the string + 1 is returned. If
delimiter is not empty, but does not exist in the given string, 1 is returned.

 ustring u_double_quote_string

(expression) Returns the given ustring expression enclosed in double quotes.

 ustring u_substring_by_delimiter

(ustring, delimiter, occurrence, numsubstr) The delimiter argument is a ustring value, and the
occurrence and numsubstr arguments are int32 values. This function returns numsubstr
substrings from ustring, delimited by delimiter and starting at substring number occurence. An
example is: u_substring_by_delimiter (“abcFdefFghiFjkl�?, “F�?, 2, 2) The string “defFghi�?
is returned. If occurence is < 1, then 1 is assumed. If occurence does not point to an existing
field, the empty string is returned. If numsubstr is not specified or is less than 1, it defaults to
1.

 int32 u_index_of_substring

(ustring, sub_ustring, occurrence) Returns the starting position of the nth occurrence of
sub_ustring in ustring. The occurrence argument is an integer indicating the nth occurrence. If
there is no nth occurrence, 0 is returned; if sub_ustring is an empty string, -2 is returned; and
if ustring doesn’t contain any sub_ustring, -1 is returned.

 ustring u_left_substring

(ustring, length) Returns the first length characters of ustring. If length is 0, it returns the
empty string. If length is greater than the length of the ustring, the entire ustring is returned.

 ustring u_right_substring

(ustring, length) Returns the last length characters of ustring. If length is 0, it returns the
empty string. If length is greater than the length of ustring, the entire ustring is returned.

 ustring u_string_of_space(count)

Returns a ustring containing count spaces. The empty string is returned for a count of 0 or
less.

 ustring u_single_quote_string

(expression) Returns expression enclosed in single quotes.

 ustring u_string_of_substring

(ustring, count) Returns a ustring containing count occurrences of ustring. The empty string is
returned for a count of 0 or less
 ustring u_trimc_string

(ustring [,character [,option]]) If only ustring is specified, all leading and trailing spaces and
tabs are removed, and all multiple occurrences of spaces and tabs are reduced to a single
space or tab. If ustring and character are specified, option defaults to 'R' The available option
values are: 'A' remove all occurrences of character 'B' remove both leading and trailing
occurrences of character. 'D' remove leading, trailing, and redundant whitespace characters.
'E' remove trailing white-space characters 'F' remove leading white-space characters 'L'
remove all leading occurrences of character 'R' remove all leading, trailing, and redundant
occurrences of character 'T' remove all trailing occurrences of character

 ustring u_system_time_date() Returns the current system time in this 24-hour

format:

hh:mm:ss dd:mmm:yyyy

 int32 u_offset_of_substring

(ustring, sub_ustring, position) Searches for the sub_ustring in the ustring beginning at
character number position, where position is an uint32. Returns the starting position of the
substring.

 int8 u_string_case_compare

(ustring, ustring) This is a case-insensitive version of u_string_compare() below. int8

u_string_compare (ustring, ustring) Compares two ustrings and returns the index (0 or 1) of
the greater string. int8 u_string_num_case_compare (ustring, ustring, uint16) This is a case-
insensitive version of u_string_num_compare() below.

 ustring u_string_num_concatenate

(ustring, ustring, uint16) Returns a ustring after appending uint16 characters from the second
ustring onto the first ustring.

 int8 u_string_num_compare

(utring, ustring, uint16) Compares first uint16 characters of two given ustrings and returns the
index (0 or 1) of the greater ustring.

 ustring u_string_num_copy

(ustring, uint16) Returns the first uint16 characters from the given ustring. int32
u_string_length(ustring) Returns the length of the ustring.

 ustring u_substring

(ustring, starting_position, length) Copies parts of ustrings to shorter strings by string

extraction. The starting_position specifies the starting location of the substring; length
 specifies the substring length. The arguments starting_position and length are uint16 types
and must be positive (>= 0).

 ustring u_char_from_num(int32) Returns a ustring character value from the given

int32. If given a value that is not associated with a character such as -1, the function returns a
space. An example use is: u_char_from_num(38) which returns

"&"

 int32 u_num_from_char(ustring) Returns the numeric value of the character in the

ustring.

When this function is given an empty string, it returns 0; and when it is given a multi-
character string, it uses the first character in the string. An example use is:
u_num_from_char("&") which returns 38

Bit Manipulation Functions

 string bit_expand(uint64) Expands the given uint64 to a string containing the binary
representation.
 ustring u_bit_expand(uint64) Expands the given uint64 to a ustring containing the

binary representation.

 uint64 bit_compress(string) Converts the string binary representation to an uint64

field.

 uint64 u_bit_compress(ustring) Converts the ustring binary representation to an

uint64 field.
 uint64 set_bit

(uint64, list_of_bits, bit_state) Turns the uint64 bits that are listed by number in the string
list_of_bits on or off, depending on whether the value of the bit_state integer is 1 or 0.
bit_state is an optional argument, and has a default value of 1 which turns the list of bits on.
An example use is: set_bit(0, "1,3,5,7") which returns 85.

 uint64 u_set_bit

(uint64, list_of_bits, bit_state) This function is a internationalized version of set_bit() above.