Byte-Based Operation or Character-Based Operation

When your program tries to replace one DBCS character with a SBCS character or vice versa, there are two alternatives: 1) byte-based operation and 2) character-based operation. Which you should choose depends on the characteristics of your program. If your editing object is column-sensitive (or position-sensitive), use the byte-based operation.

• Byte-based operation

  One DBCS character and two SBCS characters are interchangeable with each other. When a DBCS character is bisected, the fragmented byte of the DBCS character is replaced with one SBCS blank.

  Example
  
  POSITION:    0000000001   ┌────────┬────┬────────────┐
               1234567890   │POSITION│CHAR│   RESULT   │
                            ├────────┼────┼────────────┤
  SOURCE DATA: sssD1D2sss   │   01   │ e  │ essD1D2sss │
                            │   04   │ e  │ sssebD2sss │
                            │   01   │ D3 │ D3sD1D2sss │
                            │   04   │ D3 │ sssD3D2sss │
                            └────────┴────┴────────────┘
                             'b' denotes an SBCS blank.
  

• Character-based operation

  One character should be replaced with another character, either SBCS or DBCS. As a result, the length of the record may be changed; i.e. the part after the replaced character may shift to the right or left. (Do not apply the character-based operation to column-sensitive objects.)

  Example
  
  POSITION:    0000000001   ┌────────┬────┬────────────┐
               1234567890   │POSITION│CHAR│   RESULT   │
                            ├────────┼────┼────────────┤
  SOURCE DATA: sssD1D2sss   │   01   │ e  │ essD1D2sss │
                            │   04   │ e  │ ssseD2sss  │
                            │   01   │ D3 │ D3ssD1D2sss│
                            │   03   │ D3 │ ssD3D1D2sss│
                            │   04   │ D3 │ sssD3D2sss │
                            │   05   │ any│ Error      │
                            └────────┴────┴────────────┘