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I've inherited a project from a programmer who is no longer available. It

contains the command



Format(name, "!@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@")



This statement is trimming the first 2 characters from the name. I can find

no reference to the symbols used in the format string.



What was the programmer trying to accomplish with this syntax?


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"Paul Nations" <pauln@adhe.arknet.nospam.edu>wrote in message



left-justified; 35 characters wide



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It is stripping the first 2 characters from the name. So that 'Smith, John

D.' becomes 'ith, John D.'



Any ideas on what could I replace that format string with so that the next

time this code is looked at the programmer won't have to go searching all

over the place for a clue as to it's intent?





"Bob Butler" <tiredofit@nospam.com>wrote in message



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"Paul Nations" <pauln@adhe.arknet.nospam.edu>wrote in message

Is the string being formatted padded with spaces?



My choice would probably be something like:

Left$(Trim$(name) & space$(35),35)







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Yes. It would appear the programmer wanted it exactly 35 chars long. It's

being output to a printer with Courier font.

I think your command is the best solution to let the next guy who opens this

thing (hopefully me) know what's going on.



Thanks so much.





"Bob Butler" <tiredofit@nospam.com>wrote in message



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Did you get that from the top of this thread?? :-)



--

Veign

Chris Hanscom

www.veign.com">www.veign.com

Application Design Section

www.veign.com/information/application/info_app.html">www.veign.com/information/application/info_app.html

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"steve hotmail.com>" <stesrc@<remove.this.antispam.bit>wrote in message



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This form of the Format function **is** documented; it's just not as easy to

find as it should be. Look up "Format function" (no quotes) in the help

files; click on the "See Also" link; scroll down to the bottom where it

says "User-Defined String Formats (Format Function)" and click it. The

meta-characters you asked about are described there along with some others.



By the way, I'd probably have shortened the above to



Format$(name, "!" & String(35, "@"))



Rick - MVP





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On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 13:09:29 -0400, "Veign" <NOSPAMinveign@veign.com>

wrote:



Nope! It came to me in what could be described as a rare moment of

clarity <g>





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"Paul Nations" <pauln@adhe.arknet.nospam.edu>wrote









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"Paul Nations" <pauln@adhe.arknet.nospam.edu>wrote in message



Oops, hit send on an empty message! :-P



I just wanted to add that one of the advantages of an extendable language

is that you can make it so your intentions are clear, even when the language

to do so may be obscure:



Printer.Print LeftAlign(CustName, 35)



There would be very little guesswork about what that might mean. And just

for completeness, here are two candidates for LeftAlign and RightAlign:





Public Function LeftAlign(ByRef Text, Optional Length As Long = 0) As String

Length = Abs(Length)

If Length = 0 Then Length = Len(Text)

LeftAlign = Left$(LTrim$(Text) & Space$(Length), Length)

End Function



Public Function RightAlign(ByRef Text, Optional Length As Long = 0) As String

Length = Abs(Length)

If Length = 0 Then Length = Len(Text)

RightAlign = Right$(Space$(Length) & RTrim$(Text), Length)

End Function





HTH

LFS









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