DELIMITER

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The DELIMITER display option keyword specifies the separating character(s) to be used in a delimited report.

 

 

Format

 

DELIMITER "string"

 

where

 

stringis the character sequence to be placed between report "columns".

 

 

A delimited report displays it output as a series of items separated by the given string instead of the usual tabular style of report. The DELIMITER keyword causes the query processor to produce this style of report and specifies the separator to be used. The output from a delimited report can, for example, be structured with comma separators, sent to a file using the LPTR keyword and then read into applications such as Microsoft Excel.

 

The string may contain tab characters by use of the special syntax "<TAB>". Other non-printing characters can be included by use of the ^nnn notation where nnn is the three digit character number from the ASCII character set.

 

In normal usage, the page heading and record counts would probably need to be suppressed using the HDR.SUP and  COUNT.SUP keywords. The COL.SUP keyword can be used to suppress column headings.

 

The TO keyword can be used to specify the pathname of a file to receive the output. Use of this option implies use of HDR.SUP as the output is not paginated.

 

 

Examples

 

The command

LIST INVOICES VALUE CUSTOMER.NAME DELIMITER "," HDR.SUP COL.SUP COUNT.SUP

would produce a display such as that below.

 

74529,£1712.43,J McTavish

74273,£95.23,County Newspapers

63940,£141.00,R Bryant

74993,£9.29,Write Right Stationery

 

The command

LIST INVOICES VALUE CUSTOMER.NAME DELIMITER "<tab>" HDR.SUP COUNT.SUP

would produce a display such as that below where the spacing is performed by tab characters.

 

74529     £1712.43  J McTavish

74273     £95.23    County Newspapers

63940     £141.00   R Bryant

74993     £9.29     Write Right Stationery

 

 

See also: CSV