The data item is stored in character form, 1 character for each 8-bit byte. This corresponds to the format used for printed output. DISPLAY can be explicit or implicit.
For conditional expressions, the class condition cannot be used for external floating-point data items, which have a USAGE DISPLAY.
Alphabetic, alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, and numeric-edited items are discussed in Data Categories and PICTURE Rules.
The PICTURE character-string of a zoned item can contain only 9s, the operational sign symbol S, the assumed decimal point V, and one or more Ps.