Tandy 1000 Basic Reference Manual page 161

Chapter 10 I BASIC Keywords
FIELD
Statement
FIELD buffer, length AS variable[,length AS
variable,
...I
Divides a direct access buffer into fields so that you can send
data from memory to disk and disk to memory. Each field is
identified by
variable
and is the
length
you specify.
Buffer is the number assigned to the file when you opened it.
Variable
must be a string variable.
Length is an integer in the range 1 to 255 representing the
length of that field. The sum of all field lengths are equal t o the
record length assigned when you opened the file.
An OPEN statement assigning the buffer number must precede
the FIELD statement. FIELD must precede GET and PUT.
You may use the FIELD statement any number of times to re-
field a file buffer. Fielding a buffer does not clear the buffer's con-
tents; it only alters the way the buffer is accessed. You may ac-
cess the same disk file any number of ways simply by re-fielding
it.
Note:
All data-both strings and numbers-must be
placed into the buffer in string form. There are three
p a i r s of functions (MKI$/CVI, MKS$ICVS, a n d
MKD$/CVD) for converting numbers t o strings and
strings to numbers.
See also Chapter 7, "Disk Files," OPEN, CLOSE, PUT, GET,
LSET, and RSET.
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