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2.2.5 Formatted Data Input and Output

These functions provide the ability to convert data fields into union values and vice versa.

Function: bool data_in (struct substring input, const char *encoding, enum fmt_type type, int implied_decimals, int first_column, const struct dictionary *dict, union value *output, int width) ¶

Parses input as a field containing data in the given format type. The resulting value is stored in output, which the caller must have initialized with the given width. For consistency, width must be 0 if type is a numeric format type and greater than 0 if type is a string format type. encoding should be set to indicate the character encoding of input. dict must be a pointer to the dictionary with which output is associated.

If input is the empty string (with length 0), output is set to the value set on SET BLANKS (see SET BLANKS in PSPP Users Guide) for a numeric value, or to all spaces for a string value. This applies regardless of the usual parsing requirements for type.

If implied_decimals is greater than zero, then the numeric result is shifted right by implied_decimals decimal places if input does not contain a decimal point character or an exponent. Only certain numeric format types support implied decimal places; for string formats and other numeric formats, implied_decimals has no effect. DATA LIST FIXED is the primary user of this feature (see DATA LIST FIXED in PSPP Users Guide). Other callers should generally specify 0 for implied_decimals, to disable this feature.

When input contains invalid input data, data_in outputs a message using msg. If first_column is nonzero, it is included in any such error message as the 1-based column number of the start of the field. The last column in the field is calculated as first_column + input - 1. To suppress error output, enclose the call to data_in by calls to msg_disable and msg_enable.

This function returns true on success, false if a message was output (even if suppressed). Overflow and underflow provoke warnings but are not propagated to the caller as errors.

This function is declared in data/data-in.h.

Function: char * data_out (const union value *input, const struct fmt_spec *format) ¶

Function: char * data_out_legacy (const union value *input, const char *encoding, const struct fmt_spec *format) ¶

Converts the data pointed to by input into a string value, which will be encoded in UTF-8, according to output format specifier format. Format must be a valid output format. The width of input is inferred from format using an algorithm equivalent to fmt_var_width.

When input contains data that cannot be represented in the given format, data_out may output a message using msg, although the current implementation does not consistently do so. To suppress error output, enclose the call to data_out by calls to msg_disable and msg_enable.

This function is declared in data/data-out.h.