Adding Blank Lines Between Sorted Records: SKIP-LINE

To make a report easier to read, you can insert blank lines between every line of the report, or between every section. You can achieve both effects using the SKIP-LINE command.

The format of the SKIP-LINE command is:

ON fieldname SKIP-LINE

or

verb_command fieldname SKIP-LINE

SKIP-LINE does not have to be used with a sort field. When you do use it with a sort field, you insert a blank line between each section of a report. Remember, a section is defined by the sort field each time it changes.

When you use SKIP-LINE with a field that follows a verb command, you insert a blank line between each line of the report, in effect double spacing the report.

You can only use one SKIP-LINE in each report request. You do not have to type it on its own line. Instead, you include it after the field name or sort field for which you want to insert a blank line.

To insert a blank line between each section of the report, issue the following request:

TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE
PRINT DAT_INC PCT_INC SALARY
BY EMP_ID BY LAST_NAME
ON EMP_ID SKIP-LINE
END

Run the request. The output is:

To see how using SKIP-LINE on a non-sort field changes the preceding report, use SKIP-LINE after the field SALARY, which is not a sort field.

Issue the following request:

TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE
PRINT DAT_INC PCT_INC SALARY SKIP-LINE
BY EMP_ID BY LAST_NAME
END

Run the request. The output is:

Notice that this time the report has a blank line between each line of the report.