# How to eliminate blank lines in a DISPLAY statement group header **URL:** \ **Category:** Forum\ **Tags:** Adabas-Natural, Natural, Natural-News-and-General-Topics\ **Created:** [September 27, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639 "2017-09-27T20:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lars\_Bergeson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/lars_bergeson/32/1271_2.png) [@Lars\_Bergeson](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Lars_Bergeson)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639/1 "2017-09-27T20:22:49Z")
How do I eliminate the blank lines in a DISPLAY statement when using a group header? For example: ```auto DEFINE DATA LOCAL 1 #DATA (A10/1:2) INIT <'ABC12','DEF34'> 1 #GROUP (HD='GRP') 2 #SUB-FIELD1 (A1) (HD='SF1') 2 #SUB-FIELD2 (A1) (HD='SF2') 2 #SUB-FIELD3 (A1) (HD='SF3') 1 #FIELD1 (A1) (HD='//F1') 1 #FIELD2 (A1) (HD='//F2') 1 #X (I4) END-DEFINE FOR #X = 1 TO 2 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),1,1) TO #GROUP.#SUB-FIELD1 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),2,1) TO #GROUP.#SUB-FIELD2 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),3,1) TO #GROUP.#SUB-FIELD3 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),4,1) TO #FIELD1 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),5,1) TO #FIELD2 DISPLAY NOTITLE (GC=-) #GROUP #FIELD1 #FIELD2 END-FOR END ``` Produces the following output: ``` ----GRP---- SF1 SF2 SF3 F1 F2 --- --- --- -- -- A B C 1 2 D E F 3 4 ``` 1) How do I get rid of the blank line after ----GRP----? 2) Is there a way to get rid of the blank line that appears before the first row of data? (I think this blank line appears regardless of whether or not a group header is being used) Also, is there a way to use a fixed-width font when posting questions in this forum? The HTML ``` tag doesn’t seem to work. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Ralph\_Zbrog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/ralph_zbrog/32/78_2.png) [@Ralph\_Zbrog](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Ralph_Zbrog)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639/2 "2017-09-27T22:23:50Z")
Don’t like to give bad news, especially on your first posting, but, 1. Not possible 2. No 3. No The first two may have been suggested on SAG’s Brainstorm site. If so, vote for them. ---
**Author:** ![Douglas\_Kelly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/douglas_kelly/32/102_2.png) [@Douglas\_Kelly](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Douglas_Kelly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639/3 "2017-09-28T01:19:32Z")
This text precedes the code snippet. ```auto DEFINE SUBROUTINE PREFORMATTED PRINT "Use 'Code' button to start and end preformatted (code) text" END-SUBROUTINE ``` This text follows code snippet. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Robinson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/user_avatar/techcommunity.softwareag.com/steve_robinson/32/107_2.png) [@Steve\_Robinson](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Steve_Robinson)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 11:50am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639/4 "2017-09-28T11:50:48Z")
Short answers, NO. Long answers, yes, if you don’t mind coding the headers yourself. See code and output below ``` DEFINE DATA LOCAL ``` 1 #DATA (A10/1:2) INIT \<‘ABC12’,‘DEF34’\> 1 #GROUP (HD=‘GRP’) 2 #SUB-FIELD1 (A1) (HD=‘SF1’) 2 #SUB-FIELD2 (A1) (HD=‘SF2’) 2 #SUB-FIELD3 (A1) (HD=‘SF3’) 1 #FIELD1 (A1) (HD=‘//F1’) 1 #FIELD2 (A1) (HD=‘//F2’) 1 #X (I4) END-DEFINE \* write title left justified ’ grp’ / ‘sf1 sf2 sf3 f1 f2’ FOR #X = 1 TO 2 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),1,1) TO #GROUP.#SUB-FIELD1 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),2,1) TO #GROUP.#SUB-FIELD2 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),3,1) TO #GROUP.#SUB-FIELD3 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),4,1) TO #FIELD1 MOVE SUBSTR(#DATA(#X),5,1) TO #FIELD2 DISPLAY NOTITLE nohdr /\* (GC=-) #GROUP #FIELD1 #FIELD2 END-FOR END ``` grp ``` sf1 sf2 sf3 f1 f2 A B C 1 2 D E F 3 4 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639/5 "2017-09-29T02:12:08Z")
Actually, the answer to your 2nd question is “Yes” … A2. You can turn off the Underline Character. DISPLAY (UC=OFF) will “get rid of the blank line which appears before the first row of data”. NB. But it will also “get rid of” the underlines below the column headers. So the output will look like this: ----GRP---- SF1 SF2 SF3 F1 F2 A B C 1 2 D E F 3 4 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639/6 "2017-09-29T03:30:00Z")
Just a quick note on Steve’s excellent solution: 1. the (HD=…) declarations are still required, even though the WRITE TITLE is now defining the “column header” texts 2. the “column header widths” must be the same in the (HD=…) and the WRITE TITLE texts. otherwise your data rows may not line up nicely under the column headers. . For example, if you comment out the (HD=…) definitions in Steve’s program then the DISPLAY’s column widths will default back to the length of the field names. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/how-to-eliminate-blank-lines-in-a-display-statement-group-header/196639/7 "2021-04-02T15:39:23Z")