.hd rdextr "extract relation data from a relation" 02/22/82
rdextr
.ds
'Rdextr' is part of toy relational data base management
system 'rdb'.  It converts a relation to a standard text
file using a format file.  Standard input 1 must be
directed to a file containing an 'rdb' relation
and
standard input 2 must be
directed to a file containing a description of the
desired output format (see below).
The relation data is output on standard output as a text file.
.sp
The output format file is very similar in structure to the input
format file used by 'rdmake'.  The only difference is that the
data type of the relation domain is not included in the output
format.   Each line of the output format file controls the
the conversion of one domain of the relation.  The domains are
output in the order listed in the format file;  domains may be
omitted or duplicated by omitting or duplicating lines in the
output format file.
.sp
Each line of the file has the following format:
.sp
.nf
      <domain name>  [ d[<delimiter>] ]  [ l<length> ]
.fi
.sp
<Domain name> must be the name of a domain in the relation;
<delimiter> is a single character delimiter; <length> is
non-negative integer.  When a field is output, it is converted
to character form and blank padded so that it takes no
less than <length> characters (if "l<length>" is not specified,
<length> is assumed to be zero).  The characters are placed in
the output followed by the delimiter character (if "d<delimiter>"
is not specified, <delimiter> is assumed to be a blank; if
"d" with no delimiter is specified, no delimiter is output).
For the last domain in the format file, <delimiter> is always
assumed to be a NEWLINE character.
For example,
.sp
.nf
      pno d,
      pname d l20
      city d$ l10
.fi
.sp
In the first line, "pno" is output with no blank padding,
followed by a comma.  In the second line, "pname" is output with
blank padding to 20 characters with no delimiter (assuming
"pname" was described as "s20" in the relation, 20 characters
would always be output for "pname").  In the last line, "city"
is output with blank padding to 10 characters and then followed
by a newline character.
.es
y.rel> y.fmt> rdextr >y.data
p.rel> p.fmt> rdextr | field ...
... rdsort | rduniq | x.fmt> rdextr >x.data
.me
"Cannot access input relation"
.br
"<domain>: domain not found"
.br
"Illegal output length"
.br
"Unrecognized word"
.br
"Sorry, a relation can't be read from the terminal"
.br
"Relation is corrupted!!"
.sa
dtoc (2),
ltoc (2),
rdcat (1),
rdextr (1),
rdjoin (1),
rdmake (1),
rdprint (1),
rdproj (1),
rdsel (1),
rdsort (1),
rduniq (1)