Horizontal tab usage

The FX has the ability to tab horizontally, and it has default tabs set in the current pitch at columns 8, 16, 24, 32, . . . every eight Pica spaces on out to the current width of the page. We will show you how to change the tabs to suit your needs more closely, but first let’s see how the printer’s tabs work.

You can move the print head from any position on the print line to the next tab stop with the ASCII horizontal tab code, CHR$(9). You use CHR$(9)--or CHR$(137) if 9 is a number your system does not send-to move from stop to stop, whether the stop is a default tab or a tab that you have set.

Using the exact line numbers shown, enter this sample program:

10 H$=CHR$(137): A$="0123456789"30 FOR X=1 TO 3: LPRINT A$;: NEXT X: LPRINT 40 FOR J=l TO 350 LPRINT H$;"TOP";60 NEXT J: LPRINT120 LPRINT CHR$(27)"@"

and compare your RUN with Figure 9-6.

Figure 9-6. Default horizontal tabs

This shows that the default tabs (each represented by the T of the word TOP) are set in columns 8, 16, 24, 32, etc. Remember that the column count starts at 0.

119