COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

Data Division
HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006
7-89
VALUE Clause
VALUE Clause
This form of the VALUE clause assigns an initial value to an elementary data item or
data structure described in the Working-Storage Section or Extended-Storage Section.
For the form of the VALUE clause that assigns an initial value to a condition-name in
any section of the Data Division, see Descriptions of Condition-Names for Values
(Level 88).
literal
is a literal or a figurative constant whose value is the initial value of the data item.
Usage Considerations:
•
Restrictions on Use of the VALUE Clause
Do not use a VALUE clause in the description of:
°
A data item described with an EXTERNAL clause
°
An elementary data item described with a USAGE INDEX or REDEFINES
clause or subordinate to a data structure described with a VALUE or
REDEFINES clause
°
A data structure that has a subordinate item described with a JUSTIFIED or
SYNCHRONIZED clause, a USAGE clause other than USAGE DISPLAY (the
default), or (except for a condition-name) a VALUE clause
•
Restrictions on the Value of literal
°
Numeric data items
If the data item is numeric, literal must be a numeric literal or the figurative
constant ZERO, ZEROS, or ZEROES. The keyword ALL cannot appear in the
figurative constant.
If literal is a numeric literal, its value must not require the truncation of
nonzero digits; that is, the number of significant fraction digits in literal
cannot exceed the number of fraction digits in the numeric data item, and the
number of significant integral digits in literal cannot exceed the number of
integral digits in the numeric data item.
If literal is a signed numeric literal, it must either be NATIVE-n or have an
associated signed numeric PICTURE character-string. Initialization follows
standard alignment rules for numeric data items.
VALUE
IS
literal
VST108.vsd