REMCOLS

The REMCOLS function removes specified columns from every line of a multiline TEXT value. The function returns a multiline text value that includes only the remaining columns.

Columns refer to the character positions in each line of a multiline TEXT value. The first character in each line is in column one, the second is in column two, and so on.

Return Value

TEXT or NTEXT

Syntax

REMCOLS(text-expression start [length])

Arguments

text-expression

The text expression from which the specified columns should be removed. When text-expression is a multiline TEXT value, the characters in the specified columns are removed from each one of its lines.

When you specify a TEXT expression, the return value is TEXT. When you specify an NTEXT expression, the return value is NTEXT.

start

An integer, between 1 and 4,000, representing the column position at which to begin removing columns. The column position of the first character in each line of text-expression is 1.

length

An integer representing the number of columns to be removed. When you do not specify length, REMCOLS removes only the starting column.

Notes

REMCOLS always returns a TEXT value that has the same number of lines as text-expression, though some of the lines may be empty.

When you specify a starting column that is to the right of the last character in a given line in text expression, the corresponding line in the return value will be identical to the given line.

When you specify a length that exceeds the number of characters that follow the starting position in a given line in text expression, the corresponding line in the return value will include only the characters that precede the starting column.

Examples

DEFINE citylist VARIABLE TEXT
CITYLIST = 'Boston\nHouston\nChicago\nDenver'

SHOW citylist

Boston
Houston
Chicago
Denver

SHOW REMCOLS(citylist 2 4)

Bn
Hon
Cgo
Dr