string(s, format='(a)') on empty strings

[markus.sc...@gmail.com]

Hi all, 

is it deliberate, that  string(s, format='(a)')  on a string array returns a shorter array, if some entries are empty strings?

IDL> s=strtrim(sindgen(3),2)
IDL> s[1]=''                
IDL> print,s,format='(a)'  
0

2
IDL> string(s, format='(a)')
0
2
IDL> string(s, format='(a0)')
0
2
IDL> string(s, format='(a3)')
  0
   
  2

If yes, is this documented somewhere? I couldn't find it.

Best, Markus

[Chris]

Hi Markus,

This is intentional behavior, although it isn't well documented. I have gone ahead and added some additional documentation for the next release.

Thanks for reporting this!

Cheers,

Chris