$LISTVALID

Synopsis

$LISTVALID(exp)
$LV(exp)

Description

$LISTVALID determines whether exp is a Caché list, and returns a Boolean value: If exp is a list, $LISTVALID returns 1; if exp is not a list, $LISTVALID returns 0.

A list can be created using $LISTBUILD or $LISTFROMSTRING, or extracted from another list using $LIST. A list containing the empty string ("") as its sole element is a valid list. The empty string ("") by itself is also considered a valid list.

Examples

The following examples all return 1, indicating a valid list:

   w = $LISTBUILD("Red","Blue","Green")
   x = $LISTBUILD("Red")
   y = $LISTBUILD(365)
   z = $LISTBUILD("")
   CRT $LISTVALID(w)
   CRT $LISTVALID(x)
   CRT $LISTVALID(y)
   CRT $LISTVALID(z)

The following examples all return 0. Numbers and strings (with the exception of the null string) are not valid lists:

   x = "Red"
   y = 44
   CRT $LISTVALID(x)
   CRT $LISTVALID(y)

The following examples all return 1. Concatenated, nested, and omitted value lists are all valid lists:

   w=$LISTBUILD("Apple","Pear")
   x=$LISTBUILD("Walnut","Pecan")
   y=$LISTBUILD("Apple","Pear",$LISTBUILD("Walnut","Pecan"))
   z=$LISTBUILD("Apple","Pear",,"Pecan")
   CRT $LISTVALID(w:x)   ! concatenated
   CRT $LISTVALID(y)     ! nested
   CRT $LISTVALID(z)     ! omitted element

The following examples all return 1. $LISTVALID considers all of the following “empty” lists as valid lists:

  CRT $LISTVALID("")
  CRT $LISTVALID($LB())
  CRT $LISTVALID($LB(NULL))
  CRT $LISTVALID($LB(""))
  CRT $LISTVALID($LB(CHAR(0)))
  CRT $LISTVALID($LB(,))

See Also

• $LIST function

• $LISTBUILD function

• $LISTDATA function

• $LISTFIND function

• $LISTFROMSTRING function

• $LISTGET function

• $LISTLENGTH function

• $LISTNEXT function

• $LISTSAME function

• $LISTTOSTRING function