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abracadabra · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 5:35 am Post subject: PICTURE

Hi,

If I give S9(4), does it occupy one extra byte for the sign?
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Cheers!

RobertL · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:42 am Post subject:

Hi abracadabra,
No. Assuming that this is a USAGE DISPLAY item, the sign occupies the hi order nibble of the low order byte as follows:

F1F2F3F4 Unsigned number
F1F2F3C4 Positive number
F1F2F3D4 Negative number

Unless, that is, you specify SIGN IS SEPARATE. In this case an additional byte is used, either LEADING or TRAILING, to hold the sign (i.e. + or -).

Additional information can be found in http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr_OS390/BOOKS/IGYLR205/CCONTENTS?SHELF=IGYSH211&DN=SC26-9046-04&DT=20000927030801

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Robert

abracadabra · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 12:25 am Post subject:

Robert,

Does this mean the in PIC S9(4), i can only insert 3 digits?
_________________
Cheers!

ravikumar_sri2001 · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2004 6:50 am Post subject:

abracadabra,

You can store values from -9999 to +9999 in PIC S9(4).

First 4 bits of last byte, will represent the sign.

Thanks,
Ravikumar.

RobertL · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 7:14 am Post subject:

Hi abracadabra,
Believe it or not, sometimes you can even store 5 digits in a PIC 9(4) field when USAGE IS BINARY, COMP, COMP-4, or COMP-5. Cobol treats these a strictly binary fields and truncates based on halfword capacity instead of picture clause length. These fields take up 2 bytes (one halfword) and have a maximum value of: