Format of Report Specification Statements
Specify report formatting statements with a keyword proceeded by white space and a period (.), and optionally followed by parameters. The general format of a report formatting (specification) statement is:
.statement {parameters}
where:
statement
Is one of the text formatting statements, such as .data or .tab. You can specify statements in uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case letters.
parameters
Are optional parameters. Parameters take many different forms, depending on the specific statements. In many cases, parameters to the statement can also be variables and expressions. To obtain the value of a variable, precede the variable with a dollar sign ($).
Here are some examples of report formatting statements; they include a .tab, .newline, .header, .println, and a .sort statement:
.tab $first_col
.newline
.header report
.println 'This is the value of:',abc(f10.2),
' Sum:',sum(def)
.sort a,b,c
The sample reports in the appendix, "Report-Writer Report Examples" demonstrate the correct specification of statements.