The PICTURE character-string can contain the following symbols:
B P V Z 9 0 / , . + - CR DB * $
The combinations of
symbols allowed are determined from the PICTURE clause symbol order allowed (see Figure 1), and the editing rules (see PICTURE Clause Editing). The following additional rules also apply:
Either the BLANK WHEN ZERO clause must be specified for the item, or the
string must contain at least one of the following symbols:
B / Z 0 , . * + - CR DB $
The number of digit positions represented in the character-string must
be in the range 1 through 18, inclusive.
IBM Extension
The number of digit positions represented in the character-string
must be in the range 1 through 63, inclusive.
End of IBM Extension
The total length of the resultant character positions must be 127 or less.
The contents of those character positions representing digits in standard
data format must be one of the 10 Arabic numerals.
USAGE DISPLAY must be specified or implied.
Any associated VALUE clause must specify a nonnumeric literal or a figurative
constant. The literal is treated exactly as specified; no editing is done.