Mask Facility

The Mask facility allows the user to select data by matching against specific character contents. For example, select a set of returns to print by matching return codes against the mask.

Masking is currently available for the following:

Printing return labels
Printing returns by range
Selecting to transfer Tax Master Notes to Practice Notes by range
Listing practice notes
Flexi Reports

Special characters that can be used to select groups of codes include the following:

Special Character	Meaning when used to match against groups of codes
*	asterisk signifies that 0 or more characters must be in the position
?	question mark signifies that 1 character must be in the position.
-	minus negates the mask and may be used at each mask selection defined or separated by a pipe or tilde.
\|	pipe means 'or'
~	tilde means 'and'

Examples of the use of a mask:

Mask	Meaning
H???i	Match all codes where the first letter is H and fifth letter is i. The three question marks signify one unknown character each.
*I	Match all entries whose code ends in I. The asterisk signifies an unknown and unlimited number of characters, followed by I (then the rest of the code).
I	Match all entries whose code contains an I. Any characters, then I then any characters.
??	Match all entries whose code is two characters long. One character, followed by another character (then end of code).
C\|F	Match all entries whose code starts with C or F. C followed by anything OR F followed by anything.
-C*	Match all entries whose code does NOT start with C. NOT C followed by anything.
-F*	Match all entries whose code does NOT start with F. NOT F followed by anything.
-C~-F	Match all entries which start with anything other than F or C. NOT C followed by anything AND NOT F followed by anything.