FPOS

FPOS

Sets the position of the column pointer in the File Data Buffer (FDB) and returns a value

Category: External Files

Syntax
Arguments
Details
Examples
See Also

Syntax

FPOS(file-id,nval)

Arguments

file-id: specifies the identifier that was assigned when the file was opened, generally by the FOPEN function.
nval: specifies the column at which to set the pointer.

Details

FPOS returns 0 if the operation was successful, [ne] 0 if it was not successful. If the specified position is past the end of the current record, the size of the record is increased appropriately. However, in a fixed block or VBA file, if you specify a column position beyond the end of the record, the record size does not change and the text string is not written to the file.

Examples

This example assigns the fileref MYFILE to an external file and attempts to open the file. If the file is opened successfully, indicated by a positive value in the variable FID, it places data into the file's buffer at column 12, writes the record, and closes the file:

%let filrf=myfile;
%let rc=%sysfunc(filename(filrf,
   physical-filename));
%let fid=%sysfunc(fopen(&filrf,o));
%if (&fid > 0) %then
   %do;
      %let dataline=This is some data.;
         /* Position at column 12 in the FDB. */
      %let rc=%sysfunc(fpos(&fid,12));
         /* Put the data in the FDB. */
      %let rc=%sysfunc(fput(&fid,&dataline));
         /* Write the record. */
      %let rc=%sysfunc(fwrite(&fid));
         /* Close the file. */
      %let rc=%sysfunc(fclose(&fid));
   %end;
%let rc=%sysfunc(filename(filrf));

See Also

Functions:

FCLOSE

FCOL

FILENAME

FOPEN

FPUT

FWRITE

MOPEN

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