Literal Question (-literalquestion)

Use Literal Question (-literalquestion) to change the default value of the LITERAL-QUESTION attribute to TRUE (which would otherwise be FALSE).

Operating system and syntax UNIX / Windows -literalquestion
Use with Maximum value Minimum value Single-user default Multi-user default
Client Session

The LITERAL-QUESTION attribute lets you specify how the AVM interprets a quoted character value during assignment into the BUFFER-VALUE attribute for a character BUFFER-FIELD object. That is, whether the AVM treats the quoted character value as a literal or non-literal character value.

When TRUE, the new default value, the AVM treats a quoted character value as a literal character value. That is, it does not remove enclosing quotes, trailing blanks, or formatting insertion characters.

When FALSE, the AVM treats a quoted character value as a non-literal character value. That is, it removes enclosing quotes, trailing blanks, and formatting insertion characters. For example:

  • The AVM treats "abc   " as "abc".
  • The AVM treats a quoted question mark character ("?") as the Unknown value (?).

For more information about ABL objects and attributes, see ABL Reference.