$ZQASCII (ObjectScript)

Converts an eight-byte string to a number.

Synopsis

$ZQASCII(string,position)
$ZQA(string,position)

Arguments

Argument	Description
string	A string. It can be a value, a variable, or an expression. It must be a minimum of eight bytes in length.
position	Optional — A starting position in the string, expressed as a positive integer. The default is 1. Position is counted in single bytes, not eight-byte strings. The position cannot be the last byte in the string, or beyond the end of the string. A numeric position value is parsed as an integer by truncating decimal digits, removing leading zeros and plus signs, etc.

Description

The value that $ZQASCII returns depends on the arguments you use.

$ZQASCII(string) returns a numeric interpretation of an eight-byte string starting at the first character position of string.
$ZQASCII(string,position) returns a numeric interpretation of an eight-byte string beginning at the starting byte position specified by position.

$ZQASCII can return either a positive or a negative integer.

$ZQASCII issues a <FUNCTION> error if string is of an invalid length, or position is an invalid value.

Example

The following example determines the numeric interpretation of the character string "abcdefgh":

  WRITE $ZQASCII("abcdefgh")

It returns 7523094288207667809.

The following examples also return 7523094288207667809:

  WRITE !,$ZQASCII("abcdefgh",1)
  WRITE !,$ZQASCII("abcdefghxx",1)
  WRITE !,$ZQASCII("xxabcdefghxx",3)

$ZQASCII and $ASCII

$ZQASCII is similar to $ASCII except that it operates on eight byte (64-bit) words instead of single 8-bit bytes. For 16-bit words use $ZWASCII; for 32-bit words, use $ZLASCII.

$ZQASCII and $ZQCHAR

The $ZQCHAR function is the logical inverse of $ZQASCII. For example:

   WRITE $ZQASCII("abcdefgh")

returns: 7523094288207667809.

   WRITE $ZQCHAR(7523094288207667809)

returns “abcdefgh”.