The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft FoxPro for MS-DOS, versions 2.0, 2.5, and 2.5a
- Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5 and 2.5a
SUMMARY
When you use the PADL(), PADR(), and PADC() functions in FoxPro, the
justification of the data in a database field may prevent these
functions from producing the desired results. To ensure desired output
when using these functions, a "trim" function must be used, either
before or along with the PAD<x>() function used.
MORE INFORMATION
To illustrate the effect of using the PAD<x>() functions with
untrimmed data, perform the following test:
- Create a database called PADTEXT with one character field named
FIELD1 with a length of 10. Make sure the database contains one
blank record and nothing else.
- Run the following program:
**********************************
* beginning of sample program *
**********************************
USE PADTEXT
GO TOP
WAIT WINDOW "demonstrating PADL function"
REPLACE FIELD1 with "12345"
WAIT WINDOW "PADL with untrimmed left-justified data"
REPLACE FIELD1 with PADL(FIELD1,10)
* you will see the data hasn't 'moved' to the right as expected *
WAIT WINDOW "result of PADL:" + FIELD1
WAIT WINDOW "PADL with trimmed left-justified data"
REPLACE FIELD1 with PADL(ALLTRIM(FIELD1),10)
* you will notice the data has 'moved' to the right as expected *
WAIT WINDOW "result of PADL:" + FIELD1
WAIT WINDOW "demonstrating PADR function"
GO TOP
REPLACE FIELD1 with " 12345"
WAIT WINDOW "PADR with untrimmed right-justified data"
REPLACE FIELD1 with PADR(FIELD1,10)
* you will see the data hasn't 'moved' to the left as expected *
WAIT WINDOW "result of PADR:" + FIELD1
WAIT WINDOW "PADR with trimmed right-justified data"
REPLACE FIELD1 with PADR(ALLTRIM(FIELD1),10)
* you will notice the data has 'moved' to the left as expected *
WAIT WINDOW "result of PADR:" + FIELD1
WAIT WINDOW "demonstrating PADC function"
GO TOP
REPLACE FIELD1 with " 12345"
WAIT WINDOW "PADC with untrimmed data"
REPLACE FIELD1 with PADC(FIELD1,10)
* you will see that the data hasn't been centered as expected *
WAIT WINDOW "result of PADC:" + FIELD1
WAIT WINDOW "PADC with trimmed data"
REPLACE FIELD1 with PADC(ALLTRIM(FIELD1),10)
* you will notice the data has been centered as expected *
WAIT WINDOW "result of PADC:" + FIELD1
** end of program **
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