COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

Intrinsic Functions

HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006

14-29

MAX Function

MAX is a function that returns the value of its maximum argument. Its type depends on

the type of its arguments, as this table shows:

argument

is an alphabetic, alphanumeric, integer, or numeric argument. If you specify more

than one argument, they must all be of the same class. Integer and numeric

arguments can be mixed, because integers are of the class numeric.

argument can be an array; for example,

FUNCTION MAX (ARRAY1(ALL))

returns the largest element of the array ARRAY1.

The returned value is the argument with the greatest value (according to the rules for

evaluating simple conditions). If the function type is alphanumeric, the size of the

returned value is the same as that of the argument with the greatest value. If two

arguments have the same greatest value, the value of the leftmost argument is

returned.

Argument Type Function Type

Alphabetic Alphanumeric

Alphanumeric Alphanumeric

Integer Integer

Numeric (some can be integer) Numeric

( )

MAXFUNCTION argument

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