Guardian Procedure Calls Reference Manual

The L Edit Descriptor
The logical edit descriptor is used to display or interpret data in logical form. The L edit descriptor
has the form:
Lw
an unsigned integer constant that defines the total field width and cannot exceed 255. The field processed
is the w characters starting at the current position. After the field is processed, the current position is advanced
by w characters.
w
On output, the L edit descriptor causes the associated data element to be evaluated in a logical
context, and a single character is inserted right-justified in the output field. If the data value is null,
the character is blank. If the data value is zero, the character is F; for all other cases, the character
is T. For example:
ResultData ValueFormat
| T|-1L2
| T|15769L2
| F|0L2
The "|" character is used to denote the boundaries of the output field.
The input field consists of optional blanks, optionally followed by a decimal point, followed by an
uppercase T for true (logical value -1) or an uppercase F for false (logical value 0). The T or F can
be followed by additional characters in the field. The logical constants .TRUE. and .FALSE. are
acceptable input forms; for example:
Data Element ValueFormatExternal Field
-1L7| T|
0L7| F|
-1L7| .TRUE.|
0L7|.FALSE.|
-1L7|TUGBOAT|
0L7|FARLEY |
The "|" character is used to denote the boundaries of the output field.
The M Edit Descriptor
The mask formatting edit descriptor edits either alphanumeric or numeric data according to an
editing pattern or mask. Special characters within the mask indicate where digits in the data are
to be displayed; other characters are duplicated in the output field as they appear in the mask.
The M edit descriptor has the form:
M'mask'
a character string;mask can be enclosed in apostrophes ('), quotation marks ("), or less-than and
greater-than symbols (<>). The string supplied must not exceed 255 characters.
mask
The M edit descriptor is not allowed for input.
Characters in a mask that have special functions are:
Digit selectorZ
Digit selector9
1562 Formatter Edit Descriptors