The B format can be used with any type of data to print blanks in place of the value of the specified variable.

The syntax of the B format is:

where w specifies the desired field width.

You can specify either an uppercase B or lowercase b (they are identical). Report-Writer ignores the value of the expression, and prints w spaces in the output instead.

You can use this format in conjunction with the .tformat statement (see .Tformat Statement—Change Format of Column Output Temporarily), which temporarily changes a column format, to suppress printing of unchanged values in break columns.