Field types
Several field types are supported by the dictionary.
The following field types are supported by the dictionary. In the output, the SQL type is varchar.
| Field Type | Definitions |
|---|---|
| N | Numeric fields, which are right-aligned and filled with leading blanks. |
| C | Alphabetic fields, which are left-aligned and filled with trailing blanks. |
| NS | Numeric field in which leading zeros are stripped. For example, you define the house number field as NS and the ZIP Code as N. Use NS because leading zeros are relevant with ZIP codes, but could interfere with matching on the house number. |
| M | Mixed alphabetic and numeric information, in
which numeric values are right-aligned and alphabetic values are left-aligned.
Leading zeros are retained. The U.S. Postal Service uses this type
of field for house numbers and apartment numbers. For example, a four-character
type M field, where b represents a space, is:
|
| MN | Mixed name, which is often used for representing
street names. Field values that begin with a letter are left-aligned.
Field values that begin with a number are indented as if the number
is a separate four-character field. In the following examples, b represents a space. The one-digit numbers are indented three spaces, two-digit numbers are indented two spaces, and so on. The U.S. Postal Service uses this type of field for street names in the ZIP+4 files.
|