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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2025.2

# The Fields field

The `p4 jobspec` field named `Fields` lists the fields to be tracked by your jobs and specifies the order in which they appear on the `p4 job` form.

The default `Fields` field includes these fields:

    Fields:
          101 Job word 32 required
          102 Status select 10 required
          103 User word 32 required
          104 Date date 20 always
          105 Description text 0 required

Do not attempt to change, rename, or redefine fields 101 through 105. Fields 101 through 105 are used by P4 Server and should not be deleted or changed. Use `p4 jobspec` only to add new fields (106 and above) to your jobs.

Each field must be listed on a separate line. A field is defined by a line containing each of the following five field descriptors.

Field descriptor | Meaning
--- | ---
ID# | A unique integer identifier by which this field is indexed. After a field has been created and jobs entered into the system, the name of this field can change, but the data becomes inaccessible if the ID number changes. ID numbers must be between `106` and `199`.
Name | The name of the field as it should appear on the `p4 job` form. No spaces are permitted.
Data type | One of six datatypes (`word`, `text`, `line`, `select`, `date` or `bulk`), as described in the next table.
Length | The recommended size of the field’s text box as displayed in P4V, the P4 Visual Client (P4V). To display a text box with room for multiple lines of input, use a length of `0`; to display a single line, enter the `Length` as the maximum number of characters in the line. The value of this field has no effect on jobs edited from the P4 Server command line, and it is not related to the actual length of the values stored by the server.
Field type | Determines whether a field is read-only, contains default values, is required, and so on. The valid values for this field are: optional: the field can take any value or can be deleted. default: a default value is provided, but it can be changed or erased. required: a default is given; it can be changed but the field can’t be left empty. once: read-only; the field is set once to a default value and is never changed. always: read-only; the field value is reset to the default value when the job is saved. Useful only with the `$now` variable to change job modification dates, and with the `$user` variable to change the name of the user who last modified the job.

Fields have the following six datatypes.

Field Type | Explanation | Example
--- | --- | ---
`word` | A single word (a string without spaces). | A userid: edk
`text` | A block of text that can span multiple lines. | A job’s description.
`line` | One line of text. | A user’s real name: Ed K.
`select` | One of a set of user-defined values. Each field with datatype `select` must have a corresponding line in the `Values` field entered into the job specification. | A job’s status. One of: open/suspended/closed
`date` | A date value: year/month/day:hours:minutes:seconds | The date and time of job creation: 1998/07/15:13:21:46
`bulk` | A block of text that can span multiple lines, but which is not indexed for searching with `p4 jobs -e`. | Alphanumeric data for which text searches are not expected.

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