When you supply a pattern, a pattern length must be specified that is equal to or less than the specified field length. A character pattern is left-aligned in a defined field; a decimal number that is converted to packed decimal or to binary is right-aligned in a defined field.

You can initially fill a defined field with either a character or a hexadecimal digit. For example, the 10-byte pattern "BADCFEHGJI" is to be placed in a 15-byte field. The character "2" is to be used to pad the field. The result is BADCFEHGJI22222. (If no fill character is provided, the remaining bytes contain binary zeros.) The fill character, if specified, is written in each byte of the defined field before the inclusion of any pattern.