About NUMSORTCHAR Field Padding

The NUMSORTCHAR numeric pad process default specifies what kind of padding should be applied to fields that contain NUMSORTCHAR data type values, and where. This process default applies only when you have a NUMSORTCHAR data type that uses either a numeric value only, or the <alphaPrefix><numericSuffix> format, where:

• alphaPrefix is a character prefix consisting of one or more alphabetic characters.
• numericSuffix is a character suffix consisting of one or more numeric characters.

To fill out any space remaining in a field with the designated padding character, you can apply padding:

• Before the numeric value, where only a numeric value is specified (LEFTPAD).
• Between the alphabetic prefix and numeric suffix (PAD), where the <alphaPrefix><numericSuffix> format is used.
• Before the alphabetic prefix, (LEFTPAD).
  Note:  The LEFTPAD setting takes effect only if:

  • There is no alphabetic prefix.
  • There is an alphabetic prefix, LEFTPAD is set, and PAD is set to null; in other words, if PAD is set to PAD() or PAD(''), with no character specified between parentheses or the single quotation marks.

You can use either type of padding without the other, or you can use both types together. When using both, separate the entries with a comma.

Also, when using both, you can specify different padding characters for PAD and LEFTPAD.

If no padding character is specified, then the default padding characters are used:

• PAD - Zero (0) is used as the default padding character between the alphabetic prefix and the numeric suffix.  
• LEFTPAD - A space is used as the left padding character, if applicable.