COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.08+, J06.03+)

These data items do not have PICTURE clauses:
• An index (described only in an INDEXED phrase)
• A data item described as USAGE INDEX
• A data item described as USAGE NATIVE-n (where n is 2, 4, or 8)
• A data item described as USAGE POINTER
• A data item declared by a RENAMES clause
Usage Considerations:
• Size of character-string
The maximum number of characters in character-string is 30. To signify more than one
consecutive instance of a picture character, you can write it once, followed by an unsigned
integer in parentheses. The integer tells how many times that character is to occur. For example,
PICTURE 99999 is equivalent to PICTURE 9(5). While a character-string can have at
most 30 characters, using the repetition technique lets you define items longer than 30
characters. You cannot use this technique for characters that are limited to one occurrence in
a PICTURE character-string.
• Composition of character-string
The meaning of each character used in a PICTURE character-string is peculiar to the
PICTURE clause and is independent of any meaning assumed in other contexts.
The character-string in a PICTURE clause consists of certain allowable combinations
of symbols formed from the COBOL character set. The particular combination of symbols in
the character-string determines the size, category, sign, and editing attributes of the
elementary item that it describes. The symbols also specify any restrictions on the values that
the program can assign to the item and any editing that COBOL is to perform in conjunction
with an assignment.
Most individual symbols serve two purposes:
◦ Represent character positions in the item value
◦ Describe the characteristics of these positions
Some symbols merely contribute attribute information without defining character positions.
Within the character-string, the presence of a symbol followed by a repetition factor has
the same meaning as the presence of the symbol repeated the specified number of times.
The symbols are shown in uppercase, but both uppercase and lowercase are effective.
Table 32 lists and explains the symbols used to describe an elementary item.
Table 32 PICTURE Character-String Symbols
DescriptionSymbol Counts in
Item’s Size
Symbol
Represents a character position for a letter or the space
character.
YesA
Represents a character position for a space character.YesB
Indicates that the picture string is a national data item.NoN
Indicates scaling when the decimal point is not within the
number that appears in the data item.
No, but determines
the maximum number
P
One or more P s can appear only as a string of contiguous
characters to the left or right of all other digit positions in the
character-string.
of digit positions in
numeric and numeric
edited items.
Because P implies an assumed decimal point, V is redundant.
192 Data Division