This function works fine except that it returns an extra line feed between the first and second line every time. I am on version 7.6.4. Does anyone know why it is doing this and how to fix it?

DEFINE FILE EMPLOYEE
ANLB/A40 ='THIS IS AN EXAMPLE;OF TEXT;WITH A LINE BREAK;THAT ALWAYS RETURNS;AN EXTRA LINE BREAK.';
ANLBC/A40 = CTRAN(40, ANLB, 059, 013, ANLBC);
END
TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE
PRINT LAST_NAME ANLBC
WHERE LAST_NAME EQ 'BLACKWOOD'
ON TABLE HOLD FORMAT PDF
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
TYPE=REPORT,LINEBREAK='CR',$
ENDSTYLE
END

That function works great except it returns this:

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE

OF TEXT
WITH A LINE BREAK
THAT ALWAYS RETURNS
AN EXTRA LINE BREAK.

I had to change the length of ANLB and ANLBC to 86 from 40 (the string is longer than 40) to get it to run. But when I did that I got a different result than yours (mine is still wrong).

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE
OF TEXT W
ITH A LINE BREAK T
HAT ALWAYS RETURNS A
N EXTRA LINE BREAK.

if you put a space after each ; delimiter, it displays correctly. Not sure why-- possibly in the way that it is determing what constitutes the carriage return.

(I'm on version 7.1.6. someone will have to check on 764)

With the changes mentioned by Nicola, and the HOLD changed to PCHOLD, I get the correct output on 7.6.2.

Code used -

DEFINE FILE EMPLOYEE 
ANLB/A86 ='THIS IS AN EXAMPLE;OF TEXT;WITH A LINE BREAK;THAT ALWAYS RETURNS;AN EXTRA LINE BREAK.'; 
ANLBC/A86 = CTRAN(86, ANLB, 059, 013, ANLBC); 
END 
TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE 
PRINT LAST_NAME ANLBC 
WHERE LAST_NAME EQ 'BLACKWOOD' 
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF 
ON TABLE SET STYLE * 
TYPE=REPORT,LINEBREAK='CR',$ 
ENDSTYLE 
END

Returned text was -

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE
OF TEXT
WITH A LINE BREAK
THAT ALWAYS RETURNS
AN EXTRA LINE BREAK.

T

In 7.6.4 I get the expected result, correct line breaking, with HOLD and PCHOLD.

I know that in 7.1.3 there was a need to use a null or a blank after the break for it to work properly, which I documented here somewhere.

If you want to retain text indentation at the start of a new line (text entered via a multi edit for example), there is an extra step needed, but it can be done.

When I add an extra space around the ; it still puts in an extra carriage return and it is only after the first line. Makes no sense to me why it would only do it for the first line. It is no different than the rest. I am passing the data in via SQL stored procedure so I can add a non carriage return character, if there is one.

I'm using CTRAN function so I am not sure how I would handle that though.

Laurie

Can you try outputting to a SAVE file and then opening that with your text editor, also check it in hex to check the carriage return.

I am on the same release/OS as you and I get your example (changing the A40 to A86) to work fine.