Computer Science 9618
Paper 2. Sec 11.1.) Built-in-Functions
Syllabus Content:
11.1 Built-in functions
Use a subset of the built-in functions and program library. This should include those used for:
string/character manipulation
formatting of numbers
Programming environments provide many built-in functions. Some of them are always available to use; some
need to be imported from specialist module libraries.
Built-in functions
STRING Functions
LEFT(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING
returns leftmost x characters from ThisString
Example: LEFT("ABCDEFGH", 3) returns "ABC"
RIGHT(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING
returns rightmost x characters from ThisString
Example: RIGHT("ABCDEFGH", 3) returns "FGH"
MID(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER, y : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING
returns a string of length y starting at position x from ThisString
Example: MID("ABCDEFGH", 2, 3) returns "BCD"
LENGTH(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS INTEGER returns
the integer value representing the length of ThisString
Example: LENGTH("Happy Days") returns 10
LCASE(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS CHAR
returns the character value representing the lower case equivalent of ThisChar
Characters that are not upper case alphabetic are returned unchanged
Example: LCASE('W') returns 'w'
UCASE(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS CHAR
returns the character value representing the upper case equivalent of ThisChar
Characters that are not lower case alphabetic are returned unchanged
Example: UCASE('a') returns 'A'
TO_UPPER(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS STRING
1 returns a string formed by converting all characters of ThisString to upper case
Example: TO_UPPER("Error 803") returns "ERROR 803"
Notes by Faiza Anwer +923218923451
Computer Science 9618
Paper 2. Sec 11.1.) Built-in-Functions
TO_LOWER(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS STRING
returns a string formed by converting all characters of ThisString to lower case
Example: TO_LOWER("JIM 803") returns "jim 803"
NUM_TO_STR(x : <data type>) RETURNS STRING
returns a string representation of a numeric value Note:
<data type> may be REAL or INTEGER
Example: NUM_TO_STR(87.5) returns "87.5"
STR_TO_NUM(x : <data type1>) RETURNS <data type2>
returns a numeric representation of a string Note: <data
type1> may be CHAR or STRING
Note: <data type2> may be REAL or INTEGER
Example: STR_TO_NUM("23.45") returns 23.45
IS_NUM(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS BOOLEAN
returns the value TRUE if ThisString represents a valid numeric
value Note: <data type> may be CHAR or STRING
Example: IS_NUM("12.36") returns TRUE
Example: IS_NUM("-12.36") returns TRUE
Example: IS_NUM("12.3a") returns FALSE
ASC(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS INTEGER returns
an integer value (the ASCII value) of ThisChar
Example: ASC('A') returns 65
CHR(x : INTEGER) RETURNS CHAR
returns the character whose integer value (the ASCII value) is
x Example: CHR(87)returns 'W'
NUMERIC Functions
INT(x : REAL) RETURNS INTEGER
returns the integer part of x
Example: INT(27.5415) returns 27
RAND(x : INTEGER) RETURNS REAL
returns a real number in the range 0 to x (not inclusive of x)
2 Example: RAND(87) could return 35.43
Notes by Faiza Anwer +923218923451
Computer Science 9618
Paper 2. Sec 11.1.) Built-in-Functions
DATE Functions
Note: Date format is assumed to be DDMMYYYY unless otherwise stated.
DAY(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER
returns the current day number from ThisDate
Example: DAY(4/10/2003) returns 4
MONTH(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER
returns the current month number from ThisDate
Example: MONTH(4/10/2003) returns 10
YEAR(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER
returns the current year number from ThisDate
Example: YEAR(4/10/2003) returns 2003
DAYINDEX(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER
returns the current day index number from ThisDate where Sunday = 1, Monday = 2, Tuesday =
3 etc.
Example: DAYINDEX(12/05/2020) returns 3
SETDATE(Day, Month, Year : INTEGER) RETURNS DATE
returns a variable of type DATE
NOW() RETURNS DATE
returns the current date
OTHER Functions
EOF(FileName : STRING) RETURNS BOOLEAN
returns TRUE if there are no more lines to be read from file FileName
Note: This function will generate an ERROR if the file is not already open in READ mode
Notes by Faiza Anwer +923218923451
Computer Science 9618
Paper 2. Sec 11.1.) Built-in-Functions
OPERATORS
Concatenates (joins) two strings
& Example: "Summer" & " " & "Pudding" evaluates to "Summer Pudding"
Note: This operator may also be used to concatenate a character with a string
Performs a logical AND on two Boolean values
AND
Example: TRUE AND FALSE evaluates to FALSE
Performs a logical OR on two Boolean values
OR
Example: TRUE OR FALSE evaluates to TRUE
Performs a logical NOT on a Boolean value
NOT
Example: NOT TRUE evaluates to FALSE
Finds the remainder when one number is divided by another
MOD
Example: 10 MOD 3 evaluates to 1
Finds the quotient when one number is divided by another
DIV
Example 10 DIV 3 evaluates to 3
Notes by Faiza Anwer +923218923451
