# why the IF # x (\*) = 'command does not work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Forum\ **Tags:** Adabas-Natural, Natural, Natural-on-Mainframes\ **Created:** [May 7, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/why-the-if-x-command-does-not-work/176221 "2014-05-07T16:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Antonio\_Barbara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Antonio\_Barbara](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Antonio_Barbara)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/why-the-if-x-command-does-not-work/176221/1 "2014-05-07T16:48:07Z")
Would be possible that would help me understand the following situation: DEFINE DATA LOCAL TAB # 1 (A10 / 1:50) END-DEFINE MOVE '1111 'TO # TAB (5) IF # TAB (\*) = ’ ’ WRITE ‘XXXX’ ELSE WRITE ‘YYYY’ END-IF END HE ALWAYS WRITE XXXX. as there is an occurrence should be filled out by yyyy If I put IF # TAB (5) works normally. He leaves to write yyyy ---
**Author:** ![Ralph\_Zbrog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/ralph_zbrog/32/78_2.png) [@Ralph\_Zbrog](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Ralph_Zbrog)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/why-the-if-x-command-does-not-work/176221/2 "2014-05-07T17:02:25Z")
```auto IF #TAB (*) = ' ' ``` means “if any occurrence of #TAB is blank.” ---
**Author:** ![Jerome\_LeBlanc](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/jerome_leblanc/32/111_2.png) [@Jerome\_LeBlanc](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Jerome_LeBlanc)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/why-the-if-x-command-does-not-work/176221/3 "2014-05-07T17:26:35Z")
Arrays can be tricky. Be very careful with negative logic: ```auto IF #TAB(*) NE '1111' ``` means "If ANY occurrence of #TAB is NOT ‘1111’. In your example this would return TRUE. ```auto IF #TAB(*) NE ' ' ``` This would also return TRUE because occurrence 5 is not blank. ---
**Author:** ![Antonio\_Barbara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Antonio\_Barbara](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Antonio_Barbara)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/why-the-if-x-command-does-not-work/176221/4 "2014-05-07T18:45:08Z")
thanks for the help. problem solved ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Robinson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/steve_robinson/32/107_2.png) [@Steve\_Robinson](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Steve_Robinson)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/why-the-if-x-command-does-not-work/176221/5 "2014-05-07T22:32:06Z")
Just a warning: As noted by Ralph IF #TAB (\*) = ’ ’ is shorthand for IF #TAB (1) = ’ ’ OR #TAB (2) = ’ ’ OR #TAB (3) = ’ ’ etc in other words, an OR condition HOWEVER IF #TAB (_) = #OTHER-TAB (_) is shorthand for IF #TAB (1) = #OTHER-TAB (1) AND #TAB (2) = #OTHER-TAB (2) AND #TAB (3) = #OTHER-TAB (3) etc in other words, an AND condition And, as noted by Jerome, if you use negatives, it gets very tricky, for example define data local 1 #a (a1/1:10) 1 #b (a1/10) end-define \*\*\* move ‘q’ to #a (3) if #a (_) ne #b(_) write ‘not equal satisfied’ else write ‘noooooo’ end-if end Run as is; the answer is noooooo now get rid of the asterisks before the MOVE. The answer is still noooooo For the IF to be TRUE, all a-b pairs must be not equal. in other words it is: IF #TAB (_) NE #OTHER-TAB (_) is shorthand for IF #TAB (1) NE #OTHER-TAB (1) AND #TAB (2) NE #OTHER-TAB (2) AND #TAB (3) NE #OTHER-TAB (3) etc ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/why-the-if-x-command-does-not-work/176221/6 "2021-04-02T15:31:03Z")