Text File Specifications

Before submitting ASCII text files produced by third-party software or manually, you should verify the format using these specification.  If a file does not conform to these specifications, the report may be returned or rejected. You will be contacted and asked to correct and re-submit your files. 

Microsoft Windows users can use the PRL text file validation program (Option C).  Verifying the correct format will increase the chances that your submitted files will be accepted.

This section describes the record layouts and field formats for the data that you need to submit.  The file format and naming conventions that should be followed are also given.

When you are ready to submit your report, please see our report submission section.

Text File Format

The report’s text file(s) should contain ASCII data and use the pipe (“|”) character as a field separator; pipe separators are preferred, but tabs are acceptable. Individual records should occupy one line in the file; each record ends with the line feed and carriage return characters.

The widths specified in the Record Specifications are the maximum allowable widths for the fields. Fixed width records will not be accepted. Each record must always contain all the "pipe" delimiters for all fields in the record type.