All other characters entered into the body of the edit word are treated as constants. If the source data is such that the output places significant digits or leading zeros to the left of any constant, then that constant appears in the output. Otherwise, the constant is suppressed in the output. Commas and the decimal point follow the same rules as for constants. Notice in the examples below, that the presence of the end-zero-suppression character as well as the number of significant digits in the source data, influence the output of constants.
The following edit words could be used to print cheques. Note that the second asterisk is treated as a constant, and that, in the third example, the constants preceding the first significant digit are not output.
| Edit Word | Source Data | Appears in Edited Result as: |
|---|---|---|
| '$ **DOLLARS& &CTS' | 000012345 | $****123*DOLLARS 45 CTS |
| '$ **DOLLARS& &CTS' | 000000006 | $********DOLLARS 06 CTS |
| '$ &DOLLARS& &CTS' | 000000006 | $ 6 CTS |
A date could be edited by using either edit word:
| Edit Word | Source Data | Appears in Edited Result as: |
|---|---|---|
| ' / / ' | 010388 | 1/03/88 |
| '0 / / ' | 010389 | 01/03/89 |
Note that any zeros or asterisks following the first occurrence of an edit word are treated as constants. The same is true for - and CR:
| Edit Word | Source Data | Appears in Edited Result as: |
|---|---|---|
| ' 0. 000' | 01234 | 12.34000 |
| ' *. 000' | 01234 | *12.34000 |