Xerox FreeFlow manual Mask associations of character to type for the Table Command, T2 Table

Using logical processing

The characters used in the MASK parameter occupy numbered positions, beginning with 0 and separated by commas. These position numbers in the MASK parameter are used as type numbers. Therefore, the associations of mask characters to type that are listed in the following table are made for the above TABLE command.

Table 3-5. Mask associations of character to type for the TABLE

command

Character	Type	Meaning
?	None	Make no comparison
%	1	Per standard default, any numeric (0 through 9)
@	2	Per standard default, any alphabetic (A through Z, a through z)

•The data string characters that correspond positionally to those occupied by @ in the CONSTANT parameter are tested for type 2 (in the example, alphabetic A through Z or a through z).

•Characters that correspond positionally with a % are tested for type 1 (numeric, 0 through 9).

•If the string that is specified in the CONSTANT parameter were to include a ?, the corresponding data character from the input stream would be considered equal without any comparison being made, because it is an “ignore” type mask character.

Example 3 Assume the TABLE command in example 2 is changed as follows.

T2: TABLE	MASK=('?','%','@'),
	CONSTANT=('A7%%@%');

When the first two character positions of the CONSTANT parameter are checked for a mask character (as specified in the MASK parameter), none is found. Exact character matches between the input data string characters and the CONSTANT parameter characters (in this case, A7) are required for those two positions. Therefore, in this example, only data strings that begin with A7 can possibly pass the entire test.

3-8 Using LCDS Print Description Language