Fields - Formats (alphanumeric)

Contents

• Fields - Formats (alphanumeric)

  • Flag-related formats

If no format is specified for alphanumeric fields, data is output precisely as input, the number of characters equalling the field size.

l or L	Folds the characters A-Z to lower case on input.
u or U	Folds the characters a-z to upper case on input.

These format characters have no effect on assignment to a field. The treatment on assignment is handled by flags.

---

Flag-related formats

The following flag-type format characters can be assigned to alphanumeric fields in a data dictionary, alone or (if appropriate) in combination. To use them with a temporary field, assign the characters as flags. They are not recognised as format characters for temporary fields. Note that a format can be assigned to the textbox linked to a temporary field. See Textbox format.

d	When a numeric value is assigned to this field it is assumed to be a date, and is formatted using the field format if present, otherwise the default date format.
n	When a numeric value is assigned to this field, it is formatted using the field format if present, otherwise the appropriate default numeric format.
p	For use with alphanumeric arrays only. This format character marks the field as a long text field, with all characters in the array stored as a single string. This enables the storage of up to 60000 characters as a single field.
u+, l+	Fold to upper case or lower case on input or assignment. This is effectively a combination of a field format and a field flag. These formats cannot be used at all with temporary fields.

The d and n format characters indicate that if the field is assigned numeric data, it is to be formatted in the style of a numeric field. The following examples should make this clear:

Field	Assigned data	Output
afield,,a10	722222	722222
afield,,a10,,d	722222	18/05/1978
afield,,a10,“dd:mm:yyyy”,d		18:05:1978

In (1), the number 722222 is assigned to an ordinary alphanumeric field.

In (2), the field has been given the d flag, which indicates that numeric data assigned to this field is to be treated as a date (day number). No format is specified in the field definition, so the default date format is used.

In (3), the field has both the d flag and a specified format. When a numeric value is assigned to it, it is treated as a date and formatted according to the field format.

---

RELATED TOPICS

Data fields

Field formats

Date formats

Numeric formats

Field flags