A constant or literal is transparent if the constant or literal:
The following is an example of a DBCS named constant. The constant is continued by placing a hyphen instead of an apostrophe at the end of each continued line. When concatenated, the internal SO/SI characters will be dropped and only the starting SO and ending SI will remain. For more information on named constants see Named Constant Specifications.
*...1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7... I..............Namedconstant+++++++++C.........Fldnme............. I 'oK1K2K3i- C DOUBLE I 'oK4K5i'
Using DBCS data in a constant or literal that is not transparent may produce unwanted results. The DBCS data may include a character representing an apostrophe. This character ends your constant or literal where you did not expect it to end. With a transparent constant or literal, the RPG/400 language ensures this result does not occur.
If you specify 1 in position 57 of the control specification, transparent literals and constants are scanned. Your literal or constant is checked to be transparent, when an apostrophe followed by a shift-out character is found. If it is not, a warning message is issued on the compiler listing. The literal or constant is then treated as a literal or constant that is not transparent.
All RPG/400 restrictions on the length of constants or literals apply to transparent constants and literals, including the apostrophes and control characters.
You may use transparent constants and literals in any of the places you use constants or literals:
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