>I have a table that contains 7 columns. The first 6 columns contain payroll deductions. The 7th column has information on types of deduction being held in the columns 1 thur 6. My problem is that I have to parse the information in 7th column. The order in which the names appear in 7th column determines which 1 thru 6 columns contain the deductions. For example:
>
>first record
>col1 = 68
>col2 = 35
>col3 = 45
>col4 = 0
>col5 = 0
>col6 = 0
>col7 = "HLTH01 CCAPE C INS" ---> need to be parse to hlth01, ccape, c ins
>
>so HLTH01 = 68, CCAPE = 35 and C INS = 45
>
>
>second record
>col1 = 50
>col2 = 60
>col3 = 70
>col4 = 80
>col5 = 0
>col6 = 0
>col7 = "HLTH01FLXD CCAPE UTWAY" ---> need to be parse to hlth01, flxd, ccape, utway
>
>so HLTH01 = 50, FLXD = 60, CCAPE = 70 and UTWAY = 80
>
>
>as you can see the names in col7 can run into each such as HLTH01 and FLXD. They can also contain spaces between name such as "C INS". How can I go about searching in the sting for a particular name and also determine what position those name are in reference to deduction columns 1 thur 6. I hope I haven't confused anyone. thanks
>
>Nick Patel

Hi Nick,

I think about one algorithm here, though I'm not sure, it's the best from optimization point of view (Ed Rauh definitely would suggest WSH algorithm :))

Ok, these are the steps:
1) Create two dimensional array of all possible codes, like:

   dimension aCodes[100,2] 
   select code from LookCode into array aCodes
   for i=1 to 100 && use number of codes instead of 100
     store 0 to aCodes[i,2] && the second index would hold number of column
   next 

2)

   use yourtable
   scan
     for i=1 to 100
       aCodes[i,2]=atc(aCodes[i,1],col7) && Position in COL7
     next
   endscan 
   =asort(aCodes,1,2) && Check help for asort, I'd like to sort by second index

3) Array is sorted now by second index

   lnCol=0 
   for i=1 to 100
     if aCodes[i,2]>0 && Not empty second element
        lnCol=lnCol1+1
        store evaluate('col'+lnCol) to &aCodes[i,1] 
     endif
    next

I've just written this off the top of my head, so you should tweak this code a little. But you will get the idea.

Hope this helps.