In addition to the column and block default‑setting statements, you generally use another group of statements, called text positioning statements, to tell Report-Writer how to position the text or data in relation to the default position. The text positioning statements are:

You can use the .tab statement with a column name to tab to the assigned print position for that column before issuing a .print statement. In addition to tabbing, text positioning statements allow you to center or justify text within the default column margins, or to position text at the beginning or end of a line or on another line.

You can also use the text positioning statements with explicit values (instead of column names) or variables for the tab setting, left and right justify positions, and so on. Explicitly set positions override column defaults.

For details, see Text Positioning Statements in the chapter "Report-Writer Statements."