Re: Character strings in Ferret and PPL

["Mark Verschell" <markv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Henry,

What you are trying to do is very simple in ferret, I think the problem is how
you are trying to implement it. (Refer to pages 7-10 to 7-11 in the PPLUS
manual).

You tried:
PPL SET MONS
$ELEMENT(mon,"/","Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr/May/Jun/Jul/Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec")
This won't work

You need something like:
PPL SET MONSTR="Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr/May/Jun/Jul/Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec"
PPL SET MONS $ELEMENT(mon,"/",MONSTR)

This should work now (notice the two parts, there may be a way to shrink this
to 1 line, but this works)

As far as communication with PPLUS and FERRET. Refer to the release notes for
your version, most especially the notes for 4.01, allowing you to define
SYMBOLS in ferret that PPLUS can use, and ways to use symbols in ferret that
are defined in PPLUS. E.g.,

	DEFINE SYMBOL symbol_name = string
	SHOW SYMBOL/ALL
		or
	SHOW SYMBOL symbol_name
	CANCEL SYMBOL/ALL
		or
	CANCEL SYMBOL symbol_name

An example of how to use a symbol in ferret:

	DEFINE SYMBOL hi = hello everyone
	MESSAGE ($hi)
and of course
	PPL SHOW hi

Hope this helps, Mark


-- 
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	      Mark Verschell (verschell@coaps.fsu.edu)
	      Center for Ocean and Atmospheric Prediction Studies
	      Florida State University
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              R.M. Johnson Bldg. - Suite 200
	      Tallahassee, FL  32310
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