COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.03+)

Data Division

HP COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs—520347-003

7-67

PICTURE Clause

For zero suppression in a PICTURE character-string, you can either represent

any or all of the leading numeric character positions to the left of the decimal

point by Z s or asterisks or you can represent all of the numeric positions, right

or left of the decimal point, as Z s or asterisks.

If the suppression symbols appear only to the left of the decimal point, any

leading zero in the data that corresponds to the symbol is replaced by the

replacement character. Suppression terminates at the first nonzero digit in the

data represented by the suppression symbol string or at the decimal point,

whichever comes first.

If all numeric character positions in the PICTURE character-string are

represented by suppression symbols and the value of the data is not 0, the

result is the same as if the suppression characters were only to the left of the

decimal point. If the value is 0 and the suppression symbol is Z, the entire data

item is set to spaces. If the value is 0 and the suppression symbol is the

asterisk, the data item is set to all asterisks except for the actual decimal point.

In this case, the actual decimal point appears in the data item.

Only one of the symbols plus (+), minus (-), asterisk (*), Z, and the currency

symbol can be used as a floating replacement character within a single

PICTURE character-string.

Here are some examples of suppression editing:

Note. The caret (^) in the source item is the decimal point from its PICTURE

character-string.

Source Item PICTURE Edited Result

123456 $ZZZ,ZZZ.99 $123,456.00

1234^56 $ZZZ,ZZZ.99 $ 1,234.56

0 Z,ZZZ.ZZ 8 spaces

12^34 $

***,***.99 $*****12.34

***,***.99 $*******.00

***,***.** $*******.**