The NUMVAL function returns the numeric value represented by the alphanumeric character string or national character string specified as the argument. The function removes any leading or trailing spaces in the string to produce a numeric value.
The function type is numeric.
Format 1: argument-1 >>-+-------+--+----+--+-------+--+-digit--+--------------+-+----> '-space-' +-+--+ '-space-' | '-.--+-------+-' | '- --' | '-digit-' | '-.--digit----------------' >--+-------+--------------------------------------------------->< '-space-'
Format 2: argument-1, monetary format >>-+-------+--+-digit--+--------------+-+--+-------+--+----+----> '-space-' | '-.--+-------+-' | '-space-' +-+--+ | '-digit-' | +- --+ '-.--digit----------------' +-CR-+ '-DB-' >--+-------+--------------------------------------------------->< '-space-'
If the DECIMAL-POINT IS COMMA clause is specified in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph, a comma must be used in argument-1 rather than a decimal point.
The returned value is a floating-point approximation of the numeric value represented by argument-1. The precision of the returned value depends on the setting of the ARITH compiler option. For details, see Converting to numbers (NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C) in the Enterprise COBOL Programming Guide