iTS 1.0+)

Data Division

Compaq NonStop™ Pathway/iTS SCREEN COBOL Reference Manual—426750-001

5-10

PICTURE Clause

Data items subordinate to an entry described with an OCCURS clause can themselves

contain an OCCURS clause. Tables can consist of such multiple occurrences of

subordinate tables for a maximum of three levels. A data description entry containing

either format of the OCCURS clause can be followed by subordinate entries containing

a fixed length table OCCURS clause; however, a data description entry with an

OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause cannot be subordinate to a group entry described

with either format of the OCCURS clause.

PICTURE Clause

The PICTURE clause defines the characteristics of an elementary item.

character-string

is one or more symbols that determines the category of an elementary item and

places restrictions on the values assignable to the item.

A maximum of 30 characters is allowed in character-string. When the same

PICTURE character repeats, you can write it once followed by an unsigned integer

enclosed in parentheses. The integer indicates how many times that character is

repeated. For example, the following PICTURE clauses are equivalent:

PIC 9(5)

PIC 99999.

Although a character string can be no longer than 30 characters, you can use the

repetition technique to define items that otherwise would be longer than 30 characters.

Table 5-1

lists the character-string symbols that are used to describe a data item.

{ PIC } [ IS ] character-string

{ PICTURE }