Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference Manual

Definitions and Records
Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference Manual—529431-004
5-2
Order of Clauses
The DEFINITION statement has three forms:
Topics:
•
Order of Clauses on page 5-2
•
Definition Length on page 5-2
•
Field Definition on page 5-4
•
Group Definition on page 5-5
•
Reference Definition on page 5-7
•
Error Handling on page 5-8
Order of Clauses
The clauses in a DEFINITION statement can be in any order, with these exceptions:
•
Any level-88 condition-name clauses and level-89 enumeration clauses must
follow the first period in a field definition or description. A single-field definition that
has one or more of these clauses must also have BEGIN before the first period
and END after the last clause.
•
The level-66 RENAMES clause must immediately precede END in a group
definition.
•
All clauses except level-88, level-89, and level-66 clauses must precede the first
period in a definition or description.
•
END must follow all clauses in a definition. A single-field definition that includes
BEGIN must also include END; other single-field definitions cannot include END.
All group definitions must include END.
Definition Length
A definition’s length must conform to these rules:
•
If a definition is used only for working storage, its length or the length of any field
within the definition is limited to 32,767 bytes.
•
If a RECORD statement refers to a definition, the length of the definition is subject
to the maximum record-length limitations.
Form Description
Field Definition
on page 5-4 Defines a single field
Group Definition
on page 5-5 Defines a group of fields or a group of groups
Reference Definition
on
page 5-7
Defines a field or group by referring to a previous definition