(Type: Boolean, Default: FALSE)

<$.MARKBLANK option>

── $. MARKBLANK ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤

The $.MARKBLANK option is a conditional form of the $.MARK option. If $.MARKBLANK is TRUE, and if the mark field (columns 81 through 90) contains all blanks, then the PATCH utility inserts the mark-level information as it does in the $.MARK option. If the mark field of the input record already contains nonblank data, the field contents are retained. Any record read from a file with a MAXRECSIZE value that is less than the number of columns necessary to completely contain the mark field automatically has a blank mark field. In this case $.MARKBLANK is equivalent to $.MARK.

If both $.MARKBLANK and $.MARK are TRUE, $.MARKBLANK is still effective.