In managed COBOL, you can:
Managed COBOL provides a predefined string type corresponding to the managed code string type. You use this type name when declaring a data item, and anywhere that a class name is expected. For example:
01 obj-string string.
String objects are not normally constructed using the "New" method. You can simply assign a value to the string reference and the compiler automatically performs the construction for you. The string value may be set up in this way either to a literal value, or to an alphanumeric, national or group data item. For example:
set obj-string to " Some text..."
display obj-string
Substringing is built into managed COBOL with the syntax (offset:stringLength). For example, the following line displays two characters of the string 'a' starting at the sixth character:
display a(6:2)
This looks simple enough, 'a' is a string not a 'pic x'. To do this with C# or Java you have to use a substring method, whereas managed COBOL it is in syntax.
Concatenation is easy using & (ampersand).
You can do string concatenation and string reference modification in the same line; not only that but it seamlessly concatenates COBOL quoted constants with string objects. For example:
set a to a(1:5) & "-" & a(7:)
display a
You can concatenate strings with the following using & (ampersand):
| string variables | a & b |
| substrings | a & b(1:3) |
| quoted string constants | a & "-" |
| non-string types | 23 & " is a number" |
| return values from invokes | a & type COBOLString::Split(b,13,7) |
The following example combines substringing with concatenation. Here a COBOL quoted constant is automatically cast to a string and the string returned from the invoke is then concatenated with two COBOL quoted constants.
set a to "Micro Focus Managed COBOL is " & *>Micro Focus Managed COBOL is
type COBOLString::Split("The cake is amazing", 13, 7) & *>amazing
"ly good for working with strings!" *>ly good for working with strings!
display a
Where the COBOLString::Split() method contains:
set stringOut to stringIn(offset:stringLength)
To get the length of a string, use SIZE OF. For example:
set n to size of myString
The following example concatenates a string variable (a COBOL quoted constant, which is automatically cast to a string) with a number returned from an invoke, which is then concatenated with another COBOL quoted constant.
display a &
" (this string is " & *> (this string is
type COBOLString::CharCount(a) & *>69
" bytes long)" *> bytes long)
To compare strings, use = and <>. For example:
if a = b
display "a = b"
end-if
if a <> b
display "a <> b"
end-if
String comparisons are implemented as overloads to the = and <> operators, which compare character by character (rather than compare object references).
See also the String Handling sample, available from Start > All Programs > Micro Focus Enterprise Developer > Samples > Visual COBOL Samples, under COBOL for .NET.