> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.pentaho.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.pentaho.com/pdia-data-integration/9.3-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/xml-output-cp/options-xml-output-step/fields-tab-xml-output-step-options.md).
# Fields tab
Use the **Fields** tab to define the properties for the fields exported to the output XML file.
| Column | Description |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Fieldname** | The name of the field. |
| **Element name** | The name of the element in the XML file to use. |
| **Content type** | The type of data in the contents of the element. |
| **Type** | The type of the field, either **String**, **Date**, or **Number**. Format masking conversion is used for numeric data. See [Number Formats](/pdia-data-integration/9.3-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/common-formats/number-formats.md) for a complete description of format specifiers. |
| **Format** | The format mask (number type). See [Common Formats](/pdia-data-integration/9.3-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/common-formats.md) for information on common valid date and numeric formats you can use in this step. |
| **Length** | The length of the field, which depends on the following field type:- Number: Total number of significant figures in a number.
- String: Total length of string.
- Date: Total length of printed output of the string. For example,
4 only returns the year.
Note: The output string is padded to this length if it is specified.
|
| **Precision** | The number of floating point digits for number-type fields. |
| **Currency** | The symbol used to represent currencies (for example, `$10,000.00` or `€5.000,00`) |
| **Decimal** | The symbol used to represent a decimal point, either a period (`.`) as in `10,000.00` or it can be a comma (`,`) as in `5.000,00` |
| **Group** | The method used to separate units of thousands in numbers of four digits or larger, either a comma (`,`) as in `10,000.00` or (`.`) as in `5.000,00` |
| **Null** | The string to insert into the output XML file when the value of the field is null |
Select \*\*Get Fields\*\* to retrieve a list of fields from the incoming PDI data stream.
Select **Minimal Width** to minimize the field length by removing unnecessary characters. If selected, string fields are no longer padded to their specified length.
---
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