String and char datatypes in PowerBuilder

General information

There is no explicit char literal type.

String literals convert to type char using the following rules:

When a string literal is assigned to a char variable, the first character of the string literal is assigned to the variable. For example:
```
char c = "xyz"
```
results in the character x being assigned to the char variable c.
Special characters (such as newline, formfeed, octal, hex, and so on) can be assigned to char variables using string conversion, such as:
```
char c = "~n"
```

String variables assigned to char variables also convert using these rules. A char variable assigned to a string variable results in a one-character string.

Assigning strings to char arrays

As with other datatypes, you can use arrays of chars. Assigning strings to char arrays follows these rules:

If the char array is unbounded (defined as a variable-size array), the contents of the string are copied directly into the char array.
If the char array is bounded and its length is less than or equal to the length of the string, the string is truncated in the array.
If the char array is bounded and its length is greater than the length of the string, the entire string is copied into the array along with its zero terminator. Remaining characters in the array are undetermined.

Assigning char arrays to strings

When a char array is assigned to a string variable, the contents of the array are copied into the string up to a zero terminator, if found, in the char array.

Using both strings and chars in an expression

Expressions using both strings and char arrays promote the chars to strings before evaluation. For example, the following promotes the contents of c to a string before comparison with the string “x”:

char c

. . .

if (c = "x") then

Using chars in PowerScript functions

All PowerScript functions that take strings also take chars and char arrays, subject to the conversion rules described above.