Defining symbols for fields

Descriptions of the sample data sets shows the fields of the bookstore data set. To define the symbols for these fields, write a SYMNAMES statement for each one in SORT.SYMBOLS. The SYMNAMES statements for the symbols Title and Author_Last_Name look like this:

* Symbols for fields
Title,1,75,CH
Author_Last_Name,*,15,CH

To write these SYMNAMES statements that define the symbol Title for the Title field and the symbol Author_Last_Name for the Author's Last Name field, follow these steps:

Table 1. Steps to Define Symbols for Fields
Step	Action
1	Write a comment statement (optional): * Symbols for fields
2	Type Title followed by a comma. This is the symbol you will use for the Title field. A symbol can be 1 to 50 characters consisting of uppercase letters (A-Z), lowercase letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), the number sign (#), the dollar sign ($), the commercial at sign (@), the underscore(_), and the hyphen (-). However, the first character must not be a number. Title, TITLE, and title are three different symbols.
3	Type the position of the Title field followed by a comma. The position of the Title field is 1.
4	Type the length of the Title field followed by a comma. The length of the Title field is 75.
5	Type the format of the Title field followed by a blank. The format of the Title field is CH.
6	Type Author_Last_Name followed by a comma. This is the symbol you will use for the Author's Last Name field.
7	Type * for the position followed by a comma. An asterisk () for the position shows that this field immediately follows the previous field. The here will automatically assign 76 as the position of the Author_Last_Name symbol. You could specify 76 instead of , but is preferable when fields are adjacent. * allows symbols for fields to be inserted without changes to symbols for other fields.
8	Type the length of the Author's Last Name field followed by a comma. The length of the Author's Last Name field is 15.
9	Type the format of the Author's Last Name field followed by a blank. The format of the Author's Last Name field is CH.

The SYMNAMES statements to define the symbols for the other fields in the bookstore data set look like this:

Author_First_Name,*,15,CH
Publisher,*,4,CH
Course_Department,*,5,CH
Course_Number,*,5,CH
Course_Name,*,25,CH
Instructor_Last_Name,*,15,CH
Instructor_Initials,*,2,CH
Number_in_Stock,*,4,BI
Number_Sold_YTD,*,4,BI
Price,*,4,BI

So far
So far, you have learned how to create a SYMNAMES data set and use it to define symbols for your fields. Now you will learn how to use the symbols for the fields you defined.