To create a custom mask:

• Create a new variable text object or edit an existing variable text object.
• On the Link to field dialog box, select Custom from the Mask as menu.

• In the Mask text box type in the mask required, using the underscore to mark the exact placement of the characters from the original field. It is important to enter enough underscores to represent the maximum field size.

• Click the OK button to apply the mask.

Using suppression you can then remove unwanted spaces or leading zeros from your data field.

To create a Custom mask with left suppression:

• Create a new variable text object or edit an existing variable text object.
• On the Link to field dialog box, select Custom from the Mask as menu.

• In the Mask text box, type in the mask required. Enter an underscore to represent each character in the input field. It is important to enter enough underscores to represent the maximum field size.

• In the Mask text box, highlight the area where the leading zeros or spaces will appear. Click on the Left button. The highlighted area will change color. The purple highlight indicates the start of the suppression and the blue highlight indicates where left suppression will occur.

• To delete the suppression, highlight the area of the suppression mask you wish to delete and click the Delete button.
• Check the Suppress spaces only if you want to suppress only leading or trailing spaces from the data field.
• Check the Space replace suppressed character if you want to replace suppressed characters with spaces. This is useful if you want to keep alignment as is.

To create a custom mask with right suppression:

• Create a new variable text or object or edit and existing variable text object.
• On the Link to field dialog box, select Custom from the Mask as menu.

• In the Mask text box type in the mask required, using the underscore to mark the exact placement of the characters from the original field. It is important to enter enough underscores to represent the maximum field size.

• In the Mask text box, highlight the area where the trailing spaces will appear. Click on the Right button. The highlighted area will change color. The purple highlight indicates the start of the suppression and the red highlight indicates where right suppression will occur.

• To delete the suppression, highlight the area of the suppression mask you wish to delete and click the Delete button.
• Check the Suppress spaces only if you want to suppress only leading or trailing spaces from the data field.
• Check the Space replace suppressed character if you want to replace suppressed characters with spaces. This is useful if you want to keep alignment as is.