The @SYMBOLS statement can be used to declare the wildcard symbols asterisk and slash for searches using placeholders (see section “Using wildcards in search terms”).
The FILLER
operand declares a filler character (see section “Data window”).
Operation | Operands | F mode, L mode |
@SYMBOLS | [ { ASTERISK [=strspec1] |
ASTERISK= | Declares the wildcard that stands for a string of any length including an |
strspec1 | Special character that is to be declared as the wildcard. If no value is |
SLASH= | Defines the wildcard that stands for precisely one character. When EDT |
strspec2 | Special character that is to be defined as the wildcard. If no value is |
FILLER= | Defines a filler character which is replaced by a blank when data is entered |
strchar | Any character that is to be declared as the filler character. |
If the @SYMBOLS statement is entered without any operands then all 3 characters are reset to their default values.
Different characters must be specified for spec1
and spec2
as otherwise the statement is rejected with the message EDT3181
. They must also be different from the characters defined in @QUOTE as otherwise the statement is rejected with the message EDT3180
.
If spec1
or spec2
is not a valid special character then the @SYMBOLS statement is rejected with the error message EDT3952
.