12. Report-Writer Statements : Print Statements : .Nullstring Statement--Specify String for Null Value : Description
 
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Description
The .nullstring statement allows you to specify a string to print whenever a null value is to appear on the report. The string can be an expression that evaluates to a string at runtime. Because a data value of null means that there is really no data present to print, you can use the .nullstring to print a designated string that signifies the absence of the data.
Note:  Ensure that the length of the null_string is less than or equal to the width of printed nullable columns. If a column is not wide enough to contain the null_string, then the empty string is printed instead.
If you do not specify a .nullstring statement, Report-Writer uses the default value of the II_NULL_STRING environment variable/logical, if defined. If not defined, it uses a default of the empty string (a string with no characters) to print a null value. You can specify several .nullstring statements in a report specification. The system uses the current .nullstring until another .nullstring statement is executed.