FMT clause

Sets column width and justification.

Synopsis

field FMT "n[L | R | U]"

Description

The FMT clause allows you to format the column width and justification for an individual field display column. The integer n specifies the width of the display column. The letters L or R specify left justification or right justification. These letter codes are not case-sensitive. If neither letter is specified, the default is left justification.

If the field data is wider than the display column width, the display behavior depends on the justification setting and the current emulation:

L (left justification) causes data wider than the display column width to wrap in Caché MultiValue and all emulations.
R (right justification) causes data wider than the display column width to wrap in Caché MultiValue and in the following emulations: INFORMATION, PIOpen, Prime, UniData, and UniVerse. In all other emulations the data column automatically expands leftward, potentially overwriting the data in the column(s) to its left.

The U letter code suppresses column width formatting, allowing the column to expand rightward without line wrapping. The n value can be omitted, or it can be specified and is ignored.

FMT changes the width of a single display column. Use COL.SPACES to uniformly change the width of all of the display columns.

Examples

The following example shows the use of the FMT clause:

LIST VOC WITH F4 F4 FMT "5R"

In this case, the F4 column is displayed with a width of 5 characters, right justified.

The following example shows the use of the FMT clause with the BREAK-ON clause:

LIST VOC WITH F4 BY F4 BREAK-ON F4 "Next Value'P'" FMT "5R"

In this case, those records with F4 field values are sorted and displayed, with a break each time the F4 value changes. The FMT clause specifies a width of 5 characters, right justified. This formatting affects both the display of the F4 values and the display of the “Next Value” change marker.