Effective Dates: 05/15/1995 - Present Previous | Next

TN 1 (05-95)

NL 00702.220 Control Instructions

A. DESCRIPTION OF CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS

The control instructions define the processing logic used when documents are formatted. They specify, for example, the formatting of text by setting margins, tabs and page breaks.

B. PROCEDURE

Enter control instructions at the left margin within the document at the point the instruction is needed. All control instructions begin with a dot (period).

C. LIST OF CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS AND FUNCTIONS

This chart contains the control Instructions and their functions.

 

NAME PARAMETERS FUNCTION
.? ​ Call the active help function. Generate control instructions from a menu.
.? #mod Call the model prompter screen of #mod. This model must be formatted according to the rules of the active help function.
.ABS nn[m] Turn on paragraph protection for the nn lines after .ABS. [m](1-6) is the number of lines to be carried over to the next page along with the nn lines and requires .ABS ON.
.ABS {ON¦ OFF } Enter .ABS ON at the beginning of the member if m is used. OFF cancels ON.
.ALI #mod1 #mod2 Substitute model #mod2 for
#mod1 during formatting.
.CEN [nn] Center subsequent text lines at column nn (nn = 21 - 79). Without nn, lines are centered at column 35 or at center point based on previous .STR or .STF instruction.
.CEN END¦O End centering.
.DBL ON¦ OFF Control line spacing for printout:
​ ON Turn on double-spacing.
​ OFF Turn off line spacing (= turn on single-spacing).
.DSC [comment] Comment line. The first .DSC line in a document appears in the (#)LIB screen and is used as a document description. Head commands FIND and MAP search only to column 64 in .DSC lines.
.HYP ON ¦OFF Turn hyphenation on (ON) or off (OFF). SSA does not hyphenate words so .HYP ON should not be used.
.PAG [nnn] Initiate a page break and print nnn lines (maximum 200) on all following pages (default = 58).
.PRT nn Print each page nn times (maximum 99).
.SPC nn Insert nn blank lines (nn = 0 - 99) during print formatting.
.STF l1 r1 l0 n1 l2 r2 Format n1 lines between columns l1 and r1. The first line begins in column l0. Format all other lines after this control instruction between columns l2 and r2.
.STF l1 r1 l0 n1 l2 r2 n2 l3 r3 Format n1/n2 lines between columns l1/l2 and r1/r2. Begin the first line in column l0. Format all other lines after this control instruction between columns l3 and r3.
.STF ((With no parameters)) Resume formatting according to the most recent .STF parameters.
​ ​ Control instructions .CEN and .TAB ends .STF.
.TAB tab1[tab2...] Set 1 to 32 tabs. TAB can have the following values (ccc = 1 - 250):
​ <ccc Left tab. First character is in column ccc.
​ >ccc Right tab. Last character is in column ccc.
​ Dccc Decimal tab. Ones' positions align at column ccc.
​ ((With no parameters)) Cancel tabs.
To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0900702220
NL 00702.220 - Control Instructions - 05/15/1995
Batch run: 03/29/2017
Rev:05/15/1995