4-28
A-61635 December 2010
Input fixed string formats
“text”
text is any text string. Because the start and end of the text string is defined by
the character “ (double quote), the double quote character is not allowed in the
text string. A text string format is normally used in combination with other input
formats.
Examples
999”-”99”-”999
Description
— fixed string (to define a United States Social Security number)
"ID"
Description
— fixed string.
Valid input examples
ID
Invalid input examples
XX
does not match text in format. Input must be: ID
“Text”ABC””
Description
— this is an invalid input format because it includes two extra “
characters in the format.
Combination input
formats
An Input Format can consist of multiple formats that are used in combination.
To use multiple formats to define an Input Format connect the format
expressions together with or without a blank space.
No format expression may follow format that is of variable length. For example:
A<1,0>”-Comment” is not valid because A<1,0> may be any length. The
format: “Comment-“A<1,0> is valid because the variable length format is at the
end of the combination input format.
Following are valid and invalid combination formats.
Examples
"ID"999999
Description
— combined formats: "ID" and 999999.
Valid input examples
ID123456
Invalid input examples
IDabcdef
the letters abcdef must be numbers
id123456
the first two letters id do not match format which is ID
“DATE”T<yyyyMMdd>
Description
— combined formats “DATE” and T<yyyyMMdd>
T<“DATE”yyyyMMdd> is equivalent to the above format.
Valid input example
DATE20051025
