Purpose
Enables all page-oriented formatting commands, or disables them and centers the tabular report created for the returned rows, using the value of the WIDTH command option to determine the space available.
Syntax
Usage Notes
The FORMAT setting determines whether or not BTEQ uses the format specifications currently set for the following page-oriented formatting commands:
- FOOTING
- FORMCHAR
- HEADING
- RTITLE
- PAGEBREAK
- PAGELENGTH
When the FORMAT command option is set to OFF, BTEQ does not process the configuration of these command options, even though they are shown as ON in the response to a SHOW CONTROLS command.
In general, setting FORMAT to OFF is appropriate for directing the output to the screen, and ON is appropriate for directing the output to a file for printing.
When BTEQ runs in any mode other than z/OS batch, the default is OFF because page formatting does not apply to the terminal screen when BTEQ is used online. In batch mode, the default is ON because results are printed according to page formats.
If a FORMAT command is not specified, the value is OFF by default. When the FORMAT command is used and ON or OFF is not specified, BTEQ defaults to ON.
The FORMAT command is valid in a Teradata SQL macro.
Setting the FORMAT command option to ON changes the width in batch mode for Mainframe BTEQ.
Example 1 – FORMAT
The following example shows the effects of setting the FORMAT command option to ON:
database workforce; .set defaults .set format on .set heading 'Format on' .set sidetitles on .set skipline on 1 .set width 40 .set pagelength 66 .footing 'Super Confidential Report' select MgrNo(title'') ,DeptName(title '') ,Loc(title '') ,DeptNo(title '') from department order by MgrNo;
BTEQ Response
*** Query completed. 5 rows found. 4 columns returned. Format on 10007 Manufacturing CHI 600 10011 Administration NYC 100 10012 Engineering ATL 500 10018 Exec Office NYC 300 10021 Marketing NYC 700 Super Confidential Report
Example 2 – FORMAT instigated by a macro
The command in a Teradata SQL macro appears as:
ECHO '.SET FORMAT ON';
Example 3 – FORMAT
The following example shows the effects of setting the FORMAT command option to OFF:
database workforce; .defaults .format off .heading 'Format off' .set sidetitles on .set skipline off .set width 40 .set pagelength 66 .footing 'Super duper Confidential Report' = 1 ;
BTEQ Response
*** Query completed. 5 rows found. 4 columns returned. 10007 Manufacturing CHI 600 10011 Administration NYC 100 10012 Engineering ATL 500 10018 Exec Office NYC 300 10021 Marketing NYC 700