Conversions can take place during expression evaluation, I/O GET and PUT operations, and assignment operations, and between arguments and parameters. Conversions can also be initiated with the following built-in functions:
|
BINARY BIT CHAR COMPLEX DECIMAL |
FIXED FLOAT GRAPHIC IMAG PRECISION |
REAL SIGNED UNSIGNED WIDECHAR |
Each is discussed in Built-in functions, pseudovariables, and subroutines..
Each function returns a value with the attribute specified by the function name, performing any required conversions.
With the exception of the conversions performed by the COMPLEX, GRAPHIC, and IMAG built-in functions, assignment to a PL/I variable having the required attributes can achieve the conversions performed by these built-in functions. However, you might find it easier and clearer to use a built-in function than to create a variable solely to carry out a conversion.