Use of the AllowAll Characters Meta Command
The >allow_all_characters meta command is used when one wishes to use the extended ascii character set in one’s specfiles. When this command is not used, characters having an ascii value of less than 32, or more than 126 are converted to spaces as the spec file is read, and thus appear as spaces in any list files or print files generated by the run.
The default is >-allow_all_characters.
When >allow_all_characters is set, characters having an ascii value of 32 through 255 are passed to the list and printfiles. This allows one to use graphical characters such as lines (ascii 196) in banners, or to print tables using the British pound sign (ascii 156). Regardless of the setting of >allow_characters, characters having an ascii value of less than 32 are converted to spaces in list and print files.
The tab character, when used in a spec file, gets slightly special treatment. Tab characters may be used when writing specs in order to organize spec files better visually, but they are not passed to the list or print file. Instead, they are converted to a single space, just as other non-printing characters are.
There is a command, >tab_warn, which controls whether or not a warning is produced when a tab is encountered. When >tab_warn is on (the default), a warning is produced for the first tab character seen, but not for any others found in the spec file. When >-tab_warn is set, no warning is produced for tab characters.
See attached ALLOWALL.SPXfor an example.