RE: Blank vs. space (not null) from a database

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Jill Thompson-Weintraub wrote:
 
> When referring to the empty contents of a field extracted 
> from a database (the field is not a null), is it preferable 
> to write, "... when the contents of some_field is blank, [the 
> whatever will do something]", or "... when the contents of 
> some_field is a space, [the whatever will do something]". 

It sounds like you're talking about string fields (CHAR data type). Like
Chris, we speak of empty strings or string fields. But, note that a
field that contains a space isn't empty; it contains the
ASCII/ANSI/whatever value for the space character. If you retrieve an
empty string and put it between quotes, you get "". If you put a space
between quotes, you get " ". Better find out which you've got. :-)

Richard


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------




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