# Format Strings

Format strings are used in the configuration file and in index template files to explicitly specify the format in which index entries will appear. They consist of standard HTML tags, text, special tags, and tokens.

The following syntax can be used for format strings:

format string
| element [element [element [...]]]
element
| token | The name of a data item from the linked document (see below)
| special tag | A special tag, which is replaced by something else (see below)
| literal | HTML tags and text, which will appear directly in the index
| `{` format string `}` | Another format string
token
| `${desc}`¹ | The description of the linked file (text)
| `${icons}` | The icons for the linked file (HTML)
| `${info}` | The supplimentary information in the linked file (text)
| `${keywords}` | The keyword list for the linked file (text)
| `${order}` | The sort order for the linked file (text)
| `${thumb}`¹ | The thumbnail for the linked file (HTML), or blank if there is no thumbnail
| `${nothumb}`¹ | The thumbnail for the linked file (HTML), or the default thumbnail if there is no thumbnail
| `${title}` | The title of the linked file (text)
special tag
| `<?A>` | Reference anchor. This will insert`<A HREF="link">` where link is the URL of the indexed document.
| `<?BR>` | Delimiting line break. This will insert a`<BR>` if any of the elements to the left and the single element immediately to the right are non-blank.
| `<?SP>` | Delimiting space. This will insert a space if any of the elements to the left and the single element immediately to the right are non-blank.
| `<?TAB>` | Field separator. This separates multiple fields in a cell.

tokens are replaced by the appropriate item from the linked document. Special tags are replaced by the appropriate text. Literals are copied to the table cell of the index directly.

If all tokens in a format string are blank, the entire resulting text string will be blank, including any literal text. A format string must contain at least one token.

¹ The ${desc}, ${thumb}, and ${nothumb} tokens also allow attributes as specified under index template files (see Example 2 below).

Example 1:

       format=<CENTER><?A>${thumb}<?BR>${title}</A>{<BR><SMALL>{${desc}<?BR>{[${info}]}<?BR>${icons}}</SMALL>}</CENTER>

Example 2:

       format=<CENTER><?A>${thumb attrib="BORDER=0"}<?BR>${title}</A></CENTER>

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