Using DBCS literals
You can use the prefix N
or G
to
represent a DBCS literal.
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That is, you can specify a DBCS literal in either of these ways:
N'
dbcs characters'
(provided that the compiler optionNSYMBOL(DBCS)
is in effect)G'
dbcs characters'
You can use quotation marks ("
)
or apostrophes ('
) as the delimiters of a DBCS literal
irrespective of the setting of the APOST
or QUOTE
compiler
option. You must code the same opening and closing
delimiter for a DBCS literal.
If the SOSI
compiler
option is in effect, the shift-out (SO) control character X'1E'
must
immediately follow the opening delimiter, and the shift-in (SI) control
character X'1F'
must immediately precede the closing
delimiter.
In
addition to DBCS literals, you can use alphanumeric literals to specify
any character in one of the supported code pages. However, if the SOSI
compiler
option is in effect, any string of DBCS characters that is within
an alphanumeric literal must be delimited by the SO and SI characters.
You cannot continue an alphanumeric literal that contains multibyte characters. The length of a DBCS literal is likewise limited by the available space in Area B on a single source line. The maximum length of a DBCS literal is thus 28 double-byte characters.
An alphanumeric literal that contains multibyte characters is processed byte by byte, that is, with semantics appropriate for single-byte characters, except when it is converted explicitly or implicitly to national data representation, as for example in an assignment to or comparison with a national data item.