Defining a custom string format

You can define a custom string format using special symbols to construct a format pattern. Table 3-7 describes these symbols.

Table 3-7

Symbols for defining custom string formats

Symbol	Description
@	Character placeholder. Each @ character displays a character in the string. If the string has fewer characters than the number of @ symbols that appear in the format pattern, spaces appear. Placeholders are filled from right to left, unless you specify an exclamation point (!) at the beginning of the format pattern. See Table 3-8 for examples.
&	Same as @, except that if the string has fewer characters, spaces do not appear. See Table 3-8 for examples.
!	Specifies that placeholders are to be filled from left to right. See Table 3-8 for examples.
>	Converts string characters to uppercase.
<	Converts string characters to lowercase.

Table 3-8 shows examples of custom string format patterns and their effects on string data.

Table 3-8

Results of custom string formats

Format pattern	Data in the data source	Results of formatting
(@@@) @@@-@@@@	6175551007 5551007	(617) 555-1007 (   ) 555-1007
(&&&) &&&-&&&&	6175551007 5551007	(617) 555-1007 () 555-1007
!(@@@) @@@-@@@@	6175551007 5551007	(617) 555-1007 (555) 100-7
!(&&&) &&&-&&&&	6175551007 5551007	(617) 555-1007 (555) 100-7
!(@@@) @@@-@@@@ + ext 9	5551007	(555) 100-7    + ext 9
!(&&&) &&&-&&&& + ext 9	5551007	(555) 100-7 + ext 9
>&&&-&&&&&-&&	D1234567xy	D12-34567-XY
<&&&-&&&&&-&&	D1234567xy	d12-34567-xy

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