Instrinsic M Functions

Most intrinsic M functions are supported as instrinsic methods of a primitive class (e.g., String, Number, Date, Boolean, Time). The parameter list for the methods is the same as it was for the M functions, except that the first parameter is eliminated as it is now the object identifier. For example,

// M function

set x = $P(y,"|",2)

//is the same as PSL method

set x = y.piece("|",2)

However, you may need to add explicit typecasting to prevent method mismatch warnings. Use the following PSL intrinsic methods instead of the associated M intrinsic function. No other M intrinsic functions are supported by PSL.

Replace M Instrinsic Function...	With PSL Instrinsic Method...
$ASCII	String.ascii()
$CHAR	Copied.(*)
$DATA	Consider recoding into Object.exists(), unless the code explicitly or implicitly uses the values 10 and 11.
$EXTRACT	String.extract
$FIND	String.find()
$FNUMBER	Number.fnumber()
$GET	Primitive.get()
$JUSTIFY	String.justify() or Number.roundDec()
$LENGTH	String.length()
$ORDER	Object.order()
$PIECE	String.piece()
$QUERY	Object.query()
$RANDOM	Number.random()
$SELECT	Copied.
$TRANSLATE	String.translate()
$ZDATE	Although this function is copied, consider replacing by Date.toString().
$ZJOBEXAM	Copied.

(*) Copied indicates that the function is not part of the official PSL specification. However, you can simply copy the code from the PSL source to the M target routine.