Follow these steps when specifying substrings for symbols:
- Start the substring notation with a left parenthesis and end it
with a right parenthesis.
If you specify only the left and right
parentheses, the “substring” is the entire substitution text. For
example, if the
system symbol &YR8;
is assigned the substitution text 2008 in all cases below, the following
system symbols will specify
the same substitution text:
| |
Symbol |
Resulting Substring |
|---|
| |
&YR8 |
2008 |
| |
&YR8() |
2008 |
- Specify the character position, from the start of the original
string, where the substring is to begin. For example:
| |
Symbol |
Resulting Substring |
|---|
| |
&YR8(4) |
8 |
| |
&YR8(2) |
0 |
Use a minus sign (-) before the start position to indicate
that the system is to count backwards from the
end of the substitution
text. For example:
| |
Symbol |
Resulting Substring |
|---|
| |
&YR8(-4) |
2 |
| |
&YR8(-1) |
8 |
- Specify the number of characters, from the starting position,
that the substring is to contain. Separate this number from the start
position with a colon (:). For example:
| |
Symbol |
Resulting Substring |
|---|
| |
&YR4(3:2) |
08 |
| |
&YR4(-4:2) |
20 |