LEFT-TRIM function

Removes leading white space, or other specified characters, from a CHARACTER or LONGCHAR expression.

Syntax 

 

LEFT-TRIM ( expression [ , trim-chars ] )

expression

An expression (a constant, field name, variable name, or expression) whose value is a CHARACTER or LONGCHAR. If expression is a case-sensitive variable, the AVM performs a case-sensitive trim. If expression is a LONGCHAR, the result is in the same code page.

trim-chars

A character expression that specifies the characters to be trimmed from expression. If you do not specify trim-chars, the LEFT-TRIM function removes spaces, tabs, line feeds, and carriage returns.

Example 

The following example shows the effect of the TRIM, LEFT-TRIM, and RIGHT-TRIM functions on a string value:

 

r-ltrim.p

DEFINE VARIABLE ix  AS INTEGER   NO-UNDO. DEFINE VARIABLE txt AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO FORMAT "X(26)"   INITIAL "***** This is a test *****".   DEFINE BUTTON b_left  LABEL "Left Trim". DEFINE BUTTON b_right LABEL "Right Trim". DEFINE BUTTON b_trim LABEL "Trim". DEFINE BUTTON b_quit LABEL "Quit" AUTO-ENDKEY.   DEFINE FRAME butt-frame txt ix LABEL "String Length" SKIP(2) b_left b_right b_trim b_quit WITH CENTERED TITLE "Original Text String".   DEFINE FRAME trimed-frame txt LABEL "Trimed Text" ix  LABEL "Length" WITH CENTERED.   ON CHOOSE OF b_trim, b_right, b_left IN FRAME butt-frame DO: FRAME trimed-frame:TITLE = "Data After " + SELF:LABEL. DISPLAY TRIM(txt, "* ") WHEN SELF:LABEL = "Trim" @ txt LENGTH(TRIM(txt, "* ")) WHEN SELF:LABEL = "Trim" @ ix LEFT-TRIM(txt,"* ") WHEN SELF:LABEL = "Left Trim" @ txt LENGTH(LEFT-TRIM(txt,"* ")) WHEN SELF:LABEL = "Left Trim" @ ix RIGHT-TRIM(txt, "* ") WHEN SELF:LABEL = "Right Trim" @ txt LENGTH(RIGHT-TRIM(txt, "* ")) WHEN SELF:LABEL = "Right Trim" @ ix WITH FRAME trimed-frame. END. ENABLE b_left b_right b_trim b_quit WITH FRAME butt-frame.   ix = LENGTH(txt). DISPLAY txt ix WITH FRAME butt-frame.   WAIT-FOR CHOOSE OF b_quit IN FRAME butt-frame.

Notes 

The LEFT-TRIM function is similar to the TRIM function except that it trims characters only from the left end of the string.

If expression is a case-sensitive field or variable, then trim-chars is also as case sensitive. Otherwise, trim-chars is not case sensitive.

The LEFT-TRIM function is double-byte enabled. The specified expression and trim-chars arguments can contain double-byte characters. LEFT-TRIM does not remove double-byte space characters by default.

See also 

RIGHT-TRIM function, TRIM function