Example of a positive offset

If your copybook defined its fields as:

Ref Field Name                                Picture  Type Start    End Length
  1 1 REC-TYPE02                                        AN      1     80     80
  2  2 REC-TYPE                               XX        AN      1      2      2
  3  2 NAME                                   X(20)     AN      3     22     20
  4  2 JOB-TITLE                              X(14)     AN     23     36     14
  5  2 ADDR1                                  X(20)     AN     37     56     20
  6  2 ADDR2                                  X(20)     AN     57     76     20
  7  2 POSTCODE                               X(4)      AN     77     80      4
    ****  End of data  ****                                                    

and your data records, without a template, consisted of (note the header information in bold):

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7----+---
000000000102Grant Smith         Developer     22  Montrose St     Thornlie
000000000202Andrew Apple        Developer     44  Eagle Rise      Riverton
000000000302Graham Prestcott    Developer     256 Hay St          Cannington
000000000402Bill Somers         Developer     84  Murchison Rd    Dianella
000000000502Ted Dexter          Developer     92  Smith St        Belmont
000000000602Roddy Armstrong     Manager       184 Alexander Dve   Swan View    

applying the template generated from this copybook would display your data as:

REC-TYPE NAME                 JOB-TITLE      ADDR1                ADDR2
#2       #3                   #4             #5                   #6         +
AN 1:2   AN 3:20              AN 23:14       AN 37:20             AN 57:20
<>       <---+----1----+----> <---+----1---> <---+----1----+----> <---+----1--
00       0000000102Grant Smit h         Deve loper     22  Montro se St     Th
00       0000000202Andrew App le        Deve loper     44  Eagle  Rise      Ri
00       0000000302Graham Pre stcott    Deve loper     256 Hay St           Ca
00       0000000402Bill Somer s         Deve loper     84  Murchi son Rd    Di
00       0000000502Ted Dexter           Deve loper     92  Smith  St        Be
00       0000000602Roddy Arms trong     Mana ger       184 Alexan der Dve   Sw 

By adjusting the template with an offset of 10, the records would display as:

REC-TYPE NAME                 JOB-TITLE      ADDR1                ADDR2
#2       #3                   #4             #5                   #6         +
AN 11:2  AN 13:20             AN 33:14       AN 47:20             AN 67:20
<>       <---+----1----+----> <---+----1---> <---+----1----+----> <---+----1--
02       Grant Smith          Developer      22  Montrose St      Thornlie
02       Andrew Apple         Developer      44  Eagle Rise       Riverton
02       Graham Prestcott     Developer      256 Hay St           Cannington
02       Bill Somers          Developer      84  Murchison Rd     Dianella
02       Ted Dexter           Developer      92  Smith St         Belmont
02       Roddy Armstrong      Manager        184 Alexander Dve    Swan View