Re: keeping blanks out of the data

In article <1992Oct6.140938.18612@informix.com> dsimon@jupiter.noname writes: >In article 24112@advtech.uswest.com,yslas@riverauswest.com ( Rob Yslas) writes: >>This is probably a dumb question but I don't have an sql/preform manual for this >>information. I am using the standard engine and would like to know if there is a >>way for me to keep the blanks at the end of a form from being saved (attribute). >>The user likes to space bar for deletion of mistakes rather then using ^d. >>I would also like to know if there is an easy way to remove existing blanks from >>the end of fields in the database or set fields with only blanks to a null. Any >>help is appreciated. >> >>yslas@advtech.uswest.com >>Thanks > > >Unless you are using On-Line and var-chars, it shouldn't really matter, since >"Hi" and "Hi " are stored the same way, the only time it would make a difference >is that there is a difference between NULL and " ". > >As to clearing blank fields to NULL, I would suggest an UPDATE similar to this: > >UPDATE x SET cola = NULL > WHERE cola MATCHES " "> >You should probably play with that to see what the exact syntax you need is. Be aware >that storing as NULL is not going to change the size of you database files...CISAM >files are fixed length records, a char(20) is going to take up 20 bytes, regardless >of what is stored in those bytes. > > >don simon >Could be wrong, Could be right, Could be I didn't sleep last night. > What Don says is true, but please note that when using PERFORM, you cannot insert NULL into a field. Passing a field without entering data will result in a field full of blanks. Nancy Nancy Suffron Lenexa CSE suffron 913-599-8475