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<TITLE>SDF 2.001: SDF Reference: TBL Format</TITLE>
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<H1>4.4. TBL Format</H1>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Purpose">Purpose</A></H2>
<P><EM>TBL</EM> format is a text-based format for storing tabular data.</P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Overview">Overview</A></H2>
<P>The basic rules are:</P>
<UL>
<LI>blank lines and comment lines are ignored,
<LI>the first data line specifies the record format,
<LI>each remaining data line specifies a single record.</UL>
<P>Comment lines begin with # as the first non-whitespace character.</P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Record Formats">Record Formats</A></H2>
<P>For a given table, all records have the same format. The record format is either:</P>
<UL>
<LI><EM>delimited</EM> - fields are separated by a special character, or
<LI><EM>fixed-width</EM> - fields are defined by column positions.</UL>
<P>An example of delimited format is given below.</P>
<PRE>
# A simple TBL example
Name:Age:Phone:Addr
Bill:42:397 1234:14 Smith St, New Farm
Sarah:37:892 4321:105 Brown St, Chelmer
Joe:44:365 7890:6 Royal Av, Buranda
</PRE>
<P>An example of fixed-width format is given below.</P>
<PRE>
# A simple TBL example
Name Age Phone Addr
Bill 42 397 1234 14 Smith St, New Farm
Sarah 37 892 4321 105 Brown St, Chelmer
Joe 44 365 7890 6 Royal Av, Buranda
</PRE>
<P><HR WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="Left">
<STRONG>Note: </STRONG>Tabs in fixed-width records are assumed to be 8 spaces wide.
<HR WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="Left"></P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Input Format Specification">Input Format Specification</A></H2>
<P>The first data line is called the <EM>input format specification</EM>. It specifies:</P>
<UL>
<LI>the name and order of the fields in each record
<LI>the record format - delimited or fixed-width</UL>
<P>Field names can contain:</P>
<UL>
<LI>alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9)
<LI>the underscore character (_)</UL>
<P>If the first character after the first field name is a space or tab, the format is assumed to be <EM>fixed width</EM>. Otherwise, the format is <EM>delimited</EM> with fields separated by the special character found.</P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Multi-line Fields">Multi-line Fields</A></H2>
<P>Generally, each data line specifies a single record. However, if the last field begins with the sequence '<<', then it is a multi-line field terminated by the first line beginning with '>>'. Multi-line fields are supported by both record formats.</P>
<P>Within a multi-line field, blank lines and lines starting with # are treated as part of that field. i.e. it is not possible to embed a comment line within a multi-line field.</P>
<P>An example of a table containing multi-line fields is given below.</P>
<PRE>
# A simple TBL example with multi-line fields
Name Age Phone Addr
Bill 42 397 1234 <<
14 Smith St
New Farm QLD 4005
>>
Sarah 37 892 4321 <<
105 Brown St
Chelmer QLD 4068
>>
Joe 44 365 7890 <<
6 Royal Av
Buranda QLD 4102
>>
</PRE>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="Special Characters in Fields">Special Characters in Fields</A></H2>
<P>For delimited fields:</P>
<OL>
<LI>If a field contains the delimiter character or the double quote character, it must be enclosed in double quotes.
<LI>A double quote character within a field is represented by two double quotes.
<LI>Leading whitespace is kept.
<LI>Trailing whitespace is kept.</OL>
<P>For fixed-width fields:</P>
<OL>
<LI>Leading whitespace is kept.
<LI>Trailing whitespace is removed.</OL>
<P><HR WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="Left">
<STRONG>Note: </STRONG>Multi-line fields are enclosed by the << and >> symbols so none of the rules above apply to them.
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