Elementary Moves

An elementary move is one in which the receiving item is an elementary item, and the sending item is an elementary item or a literal. Any necessary conversion of data from one form of internal representation to another takes place during the move, along with any specified editing in, or de-editing implied by, the receiving item.

De-editing is the logical removal of all editing characters from a numeric-edited data item in order to determine that item's unedited numeric value.

IBM Extension

IBM Extension De-editing also occurs for items of class date-time. In this case, all separators, and any conversion specifiers that are not numeric, are removed from the date-time item, resulting in a numeric value. End of IBM Extension

End of IBM Extension
Each elementary item belongs to one of the following categories:
  • Alphabetic—includes alphabetic data items and the figurative constant SPACE.
  • Alphanumeric—includes alphanumeric data items, nonnumeric literals, and all figurative constants except SPACE. (The figurative constant ZERO is alphanumeric only when it is moved to an alphanumeric or alphanumeric-edited item.)
  • Alphanumeric-edited—includes alphanumeric-edited data items.
  • Numeric—includes numeric data items, numeric literals, and the figurative constant ZERO. (The figurative constant ZERO is numeric only when it is moved to a numeric or numeric-edited item.)
  • Numeric-edited—includes numeric-edited data items.
IBM Extension
IBM Extension
  • Floating-point—includes internal floating-point items (defined as USAGE COMP-1 or USAGE COMP-2), external floating-point items (defined as USAGE DISPLAY), and floating-point literals.
  • Boolean—includes Boolean data items and Boolean literals.
  • DBCS—includes DBCS data-items and DBCS literals.
  • Start of changeNational—includes national data-items and national literals.End of change
  • Date-Time—includes date, time, and timestamp data items of class date-time. Date-time data items are defined as USAGE DISPLAY or PACKED-DECIMAL.
End of IBM Extension
End of IBM Extension

The following rules outline the execution of valid elementary moves. When the receiving item is: