The NUMVAL function returns the numeric value represented by the character string specified by argument-1. Leading and trailing spaces are ignored. The type of this function is numeric.
Usage
FUNCTION NUMVAL (argument-1)
Parameters
1. Argument-1 must be a non-numeric literal or alphanumeric data item whose content has one of the following two formats:
[space] [+] [space] {digit [ . [digit]]} [space]
[-] {. digit }
or
[space] {digit [ . [digit]]} [space] [+ ] [space]
{. digit } [- ]
[CR]
[DB]
where space is a string of zero or more spaces, and digit is a string of one to 18 digits.
2. The total number of digits in argument-1 must not exceed 18.
3. If the DECIMAL-POINT IS COMMA clause is specified in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph, a comma must be used in argument-1 rather than a decimal point.
Returned Values
1. The returned value is the numeric value represented by argument-1.
2. The number of digits returned is 18.