In sapscript, how do I trim/offset from the right of a string?

Question

I have a need in SAPScript to trim a string from the right. There doesn't appear to be a function to accomplish this. &myfield+3& only trims from the left.

Is there a way to trim from the right? Can offset accept a negative value?

Answer 1

My ultimate goal was to take a number such as a quantity; 12.43 and convert that to: 001243.

• 6 characters long
• padded left with zeroes
• no special characters (decimals or thousands separators)

Ultimately I had to first define a field and do the intial number formatting:

/:DEFINE &myfield& = &qtyfield(.2CT)&

The above

• sets the number to 2 decimal points (.2)
• space compreession (C)
• removes the thousands separator (T)

Then I call a function within our print routine to do the special character stripping as such:

/:PERFORM get_unformatted_value IN PROGRAM zbc_rle_ean128_label
/:USING &myfield&
/:CHANGING &myfield&
/:ENDPERFORM

Then I can do the final output as such:

/ &myfield(K6RF0)&

which:

• Ignores any conversions (K)
• Sets output length to 6 and right aligns it (6R)
• and left pad with zeros (F0)

That seems to work for me. Hopefully this helps someone!