# Fields tab

![Fields tab](/files/3zjihQdNvJykIvjF7LBb)

In the **Fields** tab, you can specify the information about the name and format of the fields being read from the text file.

| Option        | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name**      | Name of the field.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| **Type**      | Type of the field can be either **String**, **Date**, or **Number**.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| **Format**    | See [Number formats](/pdia-data-integration/10.2-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/hadoop-file-input-cp-main-page/options-hadoop-file-input-reuse/fields-tab-hadoop-file-input-reuse/number-formats-hadoop-file-input-reuse.md) for a complete description of format symbols.                                                               |
| **Position**  | The position is needed when processing the Fixed filetype. It is zero-based, so the first character is starting with position 0.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| **Length**    | <p>The value of this field depends on format:</p><ul><li><strong>Number</strong></li></ul><p>Total number of significant figures in a number.</p><ul><li><strong>String</strong></li></ul><p>Total length of string.</p><ul><li><strong>Date</strong></li></ul><p>Total length of printed output of the string. For example, <code>4</code> only returns the year.</p> |
| **Precision** | <p>The value of this field depends on format:</p><ul><li><strong>Number</strong></li></ul><p>Number of floating point digits.</p><ul><li><strong>String, Date, Boolean</strong></li></ul><p>Unused.</p>                                                                                                                                                                |
| **Currency**  | Used to interpret numbers such as `$10,000.00` or `E5.000,00`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| **Decimal**   | A decimal point can be a period (`.`) as in `10,000.00` or it can be a comma (`,`) as in `5.000,00`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| **Group**     | A grouping can be a comma (`,`) as in `10,000.00` or a period (`.`) as in `5.000,00`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **Null if**   | Treat this value as null.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| **Default**   | Default value in case the field in the text file was not specified (empty).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| **Trim type** | <p>Trim the type before processing. You can specify one of the following options:</p><ul><li>None</li><li>Left</li><li>Right</li><li>Both</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Repeat**    | If the corresponding value in this row is empty, repeat the one from the last time it was not empty (**Y**or **N**).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |

See \[Understanding PDI data types and field metadata]\(../../../../Data%20Integration%20Perspective/Data%20Integration%20perspective%20in%20the%20PDI%20client/Advanced%20topics%20(PDI%20perspective)/Understanding%20PDI%20data%20types%20and%20field%20metadata.md) to maximize the efficiency of your transformation and job results.


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