Rational Developer for System z
Enterprise PL/I for z/OS, Version 3.8, Language Reference Manual

Picture characters for numeric character data

Numeric character data represents numeric values. The picture specification cannot contain the character data picture characters X or A. The picture characters for numeric character data can also specify editing of the data.

A numeric character variable can have two values, depending upon how the variable is used. The types of values are as follows:

Arithmetic
The arithmetic value is the value expressed by the decimal digits of the data item, the assumed location of a decimal point, possibly a sign, and an optionally-signed exponent or scaling factor. The arithmetic value of a numeric character variable is used in the following situations:

The arithmetic value of the numeric character variable is converted to internal coded arithmetic representation.

Character value
The character value is the value expressed by the decimal digits of the data item, as well as all of the editing and insertion characters appearing in the picture specification. The character value does not, however, include the assumed location of a decimal point, as specified by the picture characters V, K, or F. The character value of a numeric character variable is used:

No data conversion is necessary.

Numeric character data can contain only decimal digits, an optional decimal point, an optional letter E, and one or two plus or minus signs. Other characters generally associated with arithmetic data, such as currency symbols, can also be specified, but they are not a part of the arithmetic value of the numeric character variable, although the characters are stored with the digits and are part of the character value of the variable.

A numeric character specification consists of one or more fields, each field describing a fixed-point number. A floating-point specification has two fields--one for the mantissa and one for the exponent. The first field can be divided into subfields by inserting a V picture specification character. The data preceding the V (if any) and that following it (if any) are subfields of the specification.

A requirement of the picture specification for numeric character data is that each field must contain at least one picture character that specifies a digit position. This picture character, however, need not be the digit character 9. Other picture characters, such as the zero suppression characters (Z or *), also specify digit positions.

Note:
All characters except K, V, and F specify the occurrence of a character in the character representation.

The picture characters for numeric character specifications are discussed in the following sections:


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