Rules for parsing data with and without quotation marks

If an application that parses an OUTDES statement encounters a keyword operand subparameter value delimited by single quotation marks, the application must do the following:
  • If part of the value is two consecutive single quotation marks, convert the two single quotation marks to one single quotation mark. Two consecutive single quotation marks indicates a single quotation mark is to appear in the output. To include a single quotation mark in the string, specify two consecutive single quotation marks. For example, to obtain Manager's Report on the TITLE keyword, specify TITLE('Manager''s Report') on the OUTDES statement.
  • Allow any EBCDIC text characters (X'40' to X'FE') as part of the value.

If an application that parses an OUTDES statement encounters a keyword operand subparameter value that is not delimited by single quotation marks, the application must allow any EBCDIC text characters (X'40' to X'FE') as part of the value. If the parser chooses to use any of the characters (X'40' to X'FE') as special delimiter characters, the parser would not allow these delimiter characters as part of the value. When an application specifies a keyword operand that allows quoted strings, it must specify any EBCDIC text character (X'40' to X'FE') within the string.

Parent topic: Understanding the OUTDES statement