%UCS2 (Convert to UCS-2 Value)

%UCS2 converts the value of the expression from character, graphic, or UCS-2 and returns a UCS-2 value. The result is varying length if the parameter is varying length, or if the parameter is single-byte character.

The second parameter, ccsid, is optional and indicates the CCSID of the resulting expression. The CCSID defaults to the default UCS-2 CCSID of the module as specified by control keyword CCSID(*UCS2).

If the parameter is a constant, the conversion will be done at compile time.

If the conversion results in substitution characters, a warning message is issued at compile time. At run time, status 00050 is set and no error message is issued.

For more information, see Conversion Operations or Built-in Functions.

Figure 1. %UCS2 Examples

HKeywords++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
H CCSID(*UCS2 : 13488)
DName+++++++++++ETDsFrom+++To/L+++IDc.Keywords+++++++++++++++++++++++++
D  char           S              5A   INZ('abcde')
D  graph          S              2G   INZ(G'oAABBi')
 * The %UCS2 built-in function is used to initialize a UCS-2 field.
D  ufield         S             10C   INZ(%UCS2('abcdefghij'))
D  ufield2        S              1C   CCSID(61952) INZ(*LOVAL)
D  isLess                        1N
D  proc           PR
D    uparm                       2G   CCSID(13488) CONST
CL0N01Factor1+++++++Opcode&ExtExtended-factor2+++++++++++++++++++++++++
C                   EVAL      ufield = %UCS2(char) +  %UCS2(graph)
 * ufield now has 7 UCS-2 characters representing
 * 'a.b.c.d.e.AABB' where 'x.' represents the UCS-2 form of 'x'
C                   EVAL      isLess = ufield < %UCS2(ufield2:13488)
 * The result of the %UCS2 built-in function is the value of
 * ufield2, converted from CCSID 61952 to CCSID 13488
 * for the comparison.

C                   EVAL      ufield = ufield2
 * The value of ufield2 is converted from CCSID 61952 to
 * CCSID 13488 and stored in ufield.
 * This conversion is handled implicitly by the compiler.

C                   CALLP     proc(ufield2)
 * The value of ufield2 is converted to CCSID 13488
 * implicitly, as part of passing the parameter by constant reference.

Note: The graphic literal in this example is not a valid graphic literal. See Graphic Format for more information.