.TH padstring "" "" "/rdb Command"
.PC "Return string with blanks to fill a field"
\fBpadstring  [-]\fIlength string\fR
.PP
.II "string^pad with spaces"
The command
.B padstring
adds blanks to the end of
.I string
to make it the requested
.IR length .
This command useful for screen and report writing,
where you want to line up everything.
.PP
The option
.I -length
means to left-justify the string in the field, that is,
write the padding blanks to the end of
.IR string .
The option
.IR length ,
without the hyphen,
right justifies the string \(em that is, it adds the spaces to the
beginning of
.IR string .
.SH Example
The first example
.DM
	padstring 10 string
.DE
.PP
displays the string:
.DM
	    string
.DE
.PP
Note that the string is right-justified; that is, the spaces were added to
the left of
.BR string .
.PP
Now we can use this in a
.B report
form file to make fixed-length fields.
An ordinary form has the files to the right of a field, moving all around.
For example, the command
.DM
	report form < mailtable
.DE
.PP
writes the output:
.DM
Name  : Ronald McDonald             Company: McDonald's
Street: 123 Mac Attack
City  : Menphis             State  : TENN       ZIP: 30000
Phone : (111) 222-3333
.sp \n(pDu
Name  : Chiquita Banana             Company: United Brands
Street: Uno Avenito De La Revolution
City  : San Jose             State  : Costa Rica       ZIP: 123456789
Phone : 1234
.DE
.PP
This result is rather messy.
However, if we edit the file
.B form
to include the
.B padstring
command, then we will get a fixed form, as follows:
.DM
Name  : <!padstring -17 '<Name>'!> Company: <Company>
Street: <Street>
City  : <!padstring -17 '<City>'!> State  : <State>       ZIP: <ZIP>
Phone : <Phone>
.DE
.PP
Now, running
.B report
on this file yields:
.DM
Name  : Ronald McDonald   Company: McDonald's
Street: 123 Mac Attack
City  : Menphis           State  : TENN       ZIP: 30000
Phone : (111) 222-3333
.sp \n(pDu
Name  : Chiquita Banana   Company: United Brands
Street: Uno Avenito De La Revolution
City  : San Jose          State  : Costa Rica       ZIP: 123456789
Phone : 1234
.DE
.PP
Note that
.B State
has not been done yet, and therefore
.B ZIP
moves back and forth;
but
.B Company
and
.B State
stay lined up correctly.
.PP
Note that if
.B padstring
is too long a name, use the COHERENT link command
.B ln
to link it to a shorter name.
.SH "See Also"
.B
report,
screen
.R
.br
COHERENT Lexicon:
.B
ln
.R