Numeric Literals

A numeric literal is a character-string whose characters are selected from the digits 0 through 9, a sign character (+ or -), and the decimal point. If the literal contains no decimal point, it is an integer. (In this manual, the word integer appearing in a format represents a numeric literal that contains no decimal point. In some contexts, this literal is not permitted to have a negative value, or is not permitted to be zero. These restrictions, and any others that might be applicable, are included with the description of the format). The following rules apply:

The value of a numeric literal is the algebraic quantity expressed by the characters in the literal. The size of a numeric literal in standard data format characters is equal to the number of digits specified by the user.

Every numeric literal is in the numeric data category. (Data categories are described under Classes and Categories of Data.)