Previous Topic: Use of Variables

Next Topic: Use of Greater-than Signs (>) to Represent a Right-justified, Fixed-length Variable Field Value

Use of Less-than Signs (<) to Represent a Left-justified, Fixed-length Variable Field Value

Some messages contain left-justified, fixed-length fields for resource names. If the name is not the right length, the name is left-justified. To handle left-justified fixed-length fields, use less-than signs (<). Each less-than sign represents one character. (You cannot use variables because variables do not provide padding.) For example, <<<<< represents a five-character field with left justification.