.TH tabletofix "" "" "/rdb Command"
.PC "Convert /rdb table format to fixed-length format"
\fBtabletofix \fIcolumn\fB=\fIn\fB\|[r] ... < \fItableorlist\fR
.PP
.II "table^convert to fixed-length"
.II "record^convert to fixed-length"
The command
.B tabletofix
converts
.I tableorlist
from variable-length \fB/rdb\fR format to the
fixed-length format used by many other data-base management systems.
.PP
.B tabletofix
works by either padding or truncating each 
.I column
to make it
.I n
characters wide.
If the letter \fIr\fR
is used with the width specification,
.B tabletofix
right-justifies the
.I column
in question \(em that is,
it pads the column with leading blanks, assuming any are necessary.
Otherwise, the
.I column
is left justified \(em that is, it pads the column with trailing blanks.
.PP
.B tabletofix
also throws away the head lines, as well as all tab characters and
blank records.
.SH Example
Consider table
.BR journal ,
which looks like this when viewed with the command
.BR see :
.DM
Date^IAccount^IDebit^ICredit^IDescription$
----^I-------^I ----^I -----^I-----------$
820102^I101^I25000^I^Icash from loan$
820102^I211.1^I^I25000^Iloan number #378-14 Bank Amerigold$
820103^I150.1^I10000^I^Itest equipment from Zarkoff$
820103^I101^I5000^I^Icash payment$
820103^I211.2^I^I5000^Inote payable to Zarkoff Equipment$
820104^I130^I30000^I^Iinventory - parts from CCPSC$
.DE
.PP
The symbol \fB^I\fR indicate a tab, and the symbol
\fB$\fR indicates a newline.
.PP
Now, let's generate a fixed-length field data base from \fBjournal\fR.
We'll use the fields
.BR Date ,
.BR Account ,
.BR Credit ,
and
.BR Debit .
We'll give the first two fields six bytes each;
and we'll give the last two fields seven bytes each, right justified:
.DM
tabletofix Date=6 Account=6 Debit=7r Credit=7r < journal > newjournal
.DE
.PP
This commands writes its output into file
.BR newjournal ,
which appears as follows:
.DM
820102101     25000       
820102211.1          25000
820103150.1   10000       
820103101             5000
820103211.2           5000
820104130     30000       
.DE
.SH "See Also"
.B
column,
fixtotable,
see
.R