*         initialize an Alpha Array:

       *

       SET      --- TEMP 1                     =

       CNV TEXT OPT WORK TEST ARRAY        000 =  --- TEMP 1

You can also accomplish the "Array to Scalar" assignment, by setting up a Working Storage type file, with a GROUP construction like the following:

100 WS GROUP1 GROUP HEADER 1
200 WS A50 ALPHA 1 X(50)
300 WS GROUP1 END GROUP TRAILER 1
400 WS GROUP2 GROUP HEADER 1
500 WS A1 50 ALPHA 1 X(1) Oc 50
600 WS GROUP2 END GROUP TRAILER 1

... then perform the assignment as follows:

      SET      PAT WS A50                     =      XYZ

      SET      PAT WS GROUP2                  =  PAT WS GROUP1

... resulting in:

Appl Field Name Occ Field Value
PAT WS A1 50 001 X
PAT WS A1 50 002 Y
PAT WS A1 50 003 Z

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Don't forget the ability to search for individual characters (ex: commas or quotes) in ILF code, by means of the IF INCLUDES ('IF' verb with 'IN' operator), to perform string processing.