The textual block function returns a string containing each line within the specified block, separated by a single blank character. This inquiry makes it easy to copy a column of numbers from a textual region into a single string. For example, if the text block in the textual region contains the following:

 

 

and the program contains the following statement:

 

copy textual block column 1 line 1

    thru column 8 line 4 from OldText to BlockVar

 

the following string would be copied to the variable BlockVar:

 

" 123.45 8877.03  -98.76  422.62 "

 

Be careful when using the textual block function with the insert STRING drawing statement. What is inserted is not a block, but a string returned by the textual block function. The string contains the text from each line within the specified block. For example, the following statement inserts a block into NewText:

 

response to ...

   add to NewText

      insert block column 10 line 4 thru column 50 line 8

         from OldText

 

But the following statement, which uses the textual block function, inserts the string returned by textual block:

 

response to ...

    add to NewText

        insert textual block column 10 line 4

            thru column 50 line 8 from OldText