The following example shows the UNSTRING statement transferring selected information from an input record. Some information is organized for printing and some for further processing.
The FILE SECTION defines the following records:
* Record to be acted on by the UNSTRING statement:
01 INV-RCD.
05 CONTROL-CHARS PIC XX.
05 ITEM-INDENT PIC X(20).
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 INV-CODE PIC X(10).
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 NO-UNITS PIC 9(6).
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 PRICE-PER-M PIC 99999.
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 RTL-AMT PIC 9(6).99.
*
* UNSTRING receiving field for printed output:
01 DISPLAY-REC.
05 INV-NO PIC X(6).
05 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 ITEM-NAME PIC X(20).
05 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 DISPLAY-DOLS PIC 9(6).
*
* UNSTRING receiving field for further processing:
01 WORK-REC.
05 M-UNITS PIC 9(6).
05 FIELD-A PIC 9(6).
05 WK-PRICE REDEFINES FIELD-A PIC 9999V99.
05 INV-CLASS PIC X(3).
*
* UNSTRING statement control fields:
77 DBY-1 PIC X.
77 CTR-1 PIC S9(3).
77 CTR-2 PIC S9(3).
77 CTR-3 PIC S9(3).
77 CTR-4 PIC S9(3).
77 DLTR-1 PIC X.
77 DLTR-2 PIC X.
77 CHAR-CT PIC S9(3).
77 FLDS-FILLED PIC S9(3).
In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, these settings occur before the UNSTRING statement:

Here is the UNSTRING statement:
* Move subfields of INV-RCD to the subfields of DISPLAY-REC
* and WORK-REC:
UNSTRING INV-RCD
DELIMITED BY ALL SPACES OR “/” OR DBY-1
INTO ITEM-NAME COUNT IN CTR-1
INV-NO DELIMITER IN DLTR-1 COUNT IN CTR-2
INV-CLASS
M-UNITS COUNT IN CTR-3
FIELD-A
DISPLAY-DOLS DELIMITER IN DLTR-2 COUNT IN CTR-4
WITH POINTER CHAR-CT
TALLYING IN FLDS-FILLED
ON OVERFLOW GO TO UNSTRING-COMPLETE.
Because the POINTER field CHAR-CT has value 3 before the UNSTRING statement is performed, the two character positions of the CONTROL-CHARS field in INV-RCD are ignored.
When the UNSTRING statement is performed, the following steps take place:
After the UNSTRING statement is performed, the fields contain the values shown below.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| DISPLAY-REC | 707890 FOUR-PENNY-NAILS 000379 |
| WORK-REC | 475120000122BBA |
| CHAR-CT (the POINTER field) | 55 |
| FLDS-FILLED (the TALLYING field) | 6 |