BIT() returns the bit string representing a specified byte position in the current record. Use BIT() to examine the individual bits in a byte. BIT() operates in a manner similar to the function BYTE().
BIT(N)
BIT() converts the byte at location N in the current record into an eight-character-long string of 0s and 1s that represents the byte.
To assign the bit values for bytes 8, 9 and 17 to the variables b8, b9 and b17, specify:
ASSIGN b8 = BIT(8)
ASSIGN b9 = BIT(9)
ASSIGN b17 = BIT(17)
You will find:
| • | b8 = 00110001 if the eighth byte contains “1” |
| • | b9 = 01000001 if the ninth byte contains “A” |
| • | b17 = 01100001 if the seventeenth byte contains “a” |
Assume that byte position 17 contains a set of 8 credit flags. To extract all customer records that have the third bit set to one (meaning “do not ship”), specify the condition:
SUBSTR(BIT(17),3,1)="1"
In this example, SUBSTR() is used to look at the third bit.