@staticmethod
def _fw_length(field_widths):
    """
        Calculate the total length of the field width definition. Absolute values are used so that negative values
        (which indicate skipped characters) are accounted for properly.

        :param field_widths: A list of integers that indicate the field widths
        :returns: The sum of field width lengths
        """
    return sum(map(abs, field_widths))
