Following are the rules for specifying length (l) in field_name dictionary statements:
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l can be a number from 1 through 32752.
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l can be in the form of m.n for specifying a bit length, where m is a number from 0 through 32752 and n is a number from 0 through 7. Note that m and n cannot both be zero.
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l can be an equal sign (=), which assigns the previous length to l. If the previous length has not yet been determined when = is read, MFX will generate an error message.
Note that use of = for l can result in incorrect length values if fields are inserted at some later date.
If the dictionary table is printed, it will display the actual lengths that were assigned when = was specified for l. For example, consider the following dictionary statements:
The dictionary table will reflect the following substitutions made by MFX: