$FORMAT

General Form:


Where:

     field_expression           = (start, field_spec)

     field-spec           = length (string fields)
                                 pack image (numeric fields)
                                 $FORMAT field spec (numeric fields)

The $FORMAT statement is a form of assignment statement used to simplify the use of the field form of $PACK and $UNPACK. The definition on the right hand side must be a true alpha expression, it is also case insensitive. Keywords supported with their $PACK field specifiers are shown in the table below

The $PACK field specification for field variables can be obtained by specifying either a field variable or a field expression, e.g.

$FORMAT pck1$=(2,3)
$FORMAT pck2$=(10,"-####.##")
.total=(4,"##.##"): $FORMAT pck3$=.total

The maximum field width for binary fields is 5. The field specifier of HEX(8205) is equivalent to the PACK picture -#######.##.

See the table of $PACK field specifiers for a list of the supported mnemonics.

Syntax examples:

$FORMAT fmt$ = A$
$FORMAT fmt$ = "Skip5, I5, D7.3"
$FORMAT alpha$ = (12,43)
$FORMAT fmt$ = "BASE64"
$FORMAT beta$ = (10,"-######.###")