Name

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      N_bytes()

Purpose

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      To return the total number of bytes in data element

Calling Sequence

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      result = N_bytes(a)

Inputs

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      a - any idl data element, scalar or array

Outputs

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      total number of bytes in a is returned as the function value
      (64bit longword scalar)

Notes

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      (1) Not valid for object or pointer data types
      (2) For a string array, the number of bytes is computed after conversion
          with the BYTE() function, i.e. each element has the same length,
          equal to the maximum individual string length.

Modification History

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      Version 1 By D. Lindler Oct. 1986
      Include new IDL data types W. Landsman June 2001
      Now return a 64bit integer W. Landsman April 2006