Formats for numeric data

When USAGE DISPLAY is in effect for a category numeric data item (either because you have coded it, or by default), each position (byte) of storage contains one decimal digit. The items are stored in displayable form. External decimal items that have USAGE DISPLAY are referred to as zoned decimal data items.

When USAGE NATIONAL is in effect for a category numeric data item, 2 bytes of storage are required for each decimal digit. The items are stored in UTF-16 format. External decimal items that have USAGE NATIONAL must only contain valid UTF-16 digits. If they do not, the data is illegal and the behavior of the generated code is undefined. External decimal items that have USAGE NATIONAL are referred to as national decimal data items.

National decimal data items, if signed, must have the SIGN SEPARATE clause in effect. All other rules for zoned decimal items apply to national decimal items. You can use national decimal items anywhere that other category numeric data items can be used.

External decimal (both zoned decimal and national decimal) data items are primarily intended for receiving and sending numbers between your program and files, terminals, or printers. You can also use external decimal items as operands and receivers in arithmetic processing. However, if your program performs a lot of intensive arithmetic, and efficiency is a high priority, COBOL's computational numeric types might be a better choice for the data items used in the arithmetic.

When USAGE DISPLAY is in effect for a floating-point data item (either because you have coded it, or by default), each PICTURE character position (except for v, an implied decimal point, if used) takes 1 byte of storage. The items are stored in displayable form. External floating-point items that have USAGE DISPLAY are referred to as display floating-point data items in this information when necessary to distinguish them from external floating-point items that have USAGE NATIONAL.

In the following example, Compute-Result is implicitly defined as a display floating-point item:

05  Compute-Result  Pic -9v9(9)E-99.

The minus signs (-) do not mean that the mantissa and exponent must necessarily be negative numbers. Instead, they mean that when the number is displayed, the sign appears as a blank for positive numbers or a minus sign for negative numbers. If you instead code a plus sign (+), the sign appears as a plus sign for positive numbers or a minus sign for negative numbers.

When USAGE NATIONAL is in effect for a floating-point data item, each PICTURE character position (except for v, if used) takes 2 bytes of storage. The items are stored as national characters (UTF-16). External floating-point items that have USAGE NATIONAL are referred to as national floating-point data items.

The existing rules for display floating-point items apply to national floating-point items.

In the following example, Compute-Result-N is a national floating-point item:

05  Compute-Result-N  Pic -9v9(9)E-99  Usage National.

If Compute-Result-N is displayed, the signs appear as described above for Compute-Result, but in national characters. To instead display Compute-Result-N in EBCDIC characters, direct it to the console:

Display Compute-Result-N Upon Console

You cannot use the VALUE clause for external floating-point items.

As with external decimal numbers, external floating-point numbers have to be converted (by the compiler) to an internal representation of their numeric value before they can be used in arithmetic operations. If you compile with the default option ARITH (COMPAT), external floating-point numbers are converted to long (64-bit) floating-point format. If you compile with ARITH (EXTEND), they are instead converted to extended-precision (128-bit) floating-point format.

BINARY, COMP, and COMP-4 are synonyms. Binary-format numbers occupy 2, 4, or 8 bytes of storage. If the PICTURE clause specifies that an item is signed, the leftmost bit is used as the operational sign.

A binary number with a PICTURE description of four or fewer decimal digits occupies 2 bytes; five to nine decimal digits, 4 bytes; and 10 to 18 decimal digits, 8 bytes. Binary items with nine or more digits require more handling by the compiler. Testing them for the SIZE ERROR condition and rounding is more cumbersome than with other types.

You can use binary items, for example, for indexes, subscripts, switches, and arithmetic operands or results.

Use the TRUNC(STD|OPT|BIN) compiler option to indicate how binary data (BINARY, COMP, or COMP-4) is to be truncated.

Data items that you define as USAGE COMP-5 are represented in storage as binary data. However, unlike USAGE COMP items, they can contain values of magnitude up to the capacity of the native binary representation (2, 4, or 8 bytes) rather than being limited to the value implied by the number of 9s in the PICTURE clause.

When you move or store numeric data into a COMP-5 item, truncation occurs at the binary field size rather than at the COBOL PICTURE size limit. When you reference a COMP-5 item, the full binary field size is used in the operation.

COMP-5 is thus particularly useful for binary data items that originate in non-COBOL programs where the data might not conform to a COBOL PICTURE clause.

The table below shows the ranges of possible values for COMP-5 data items.

You can specify scaling (that is, decimal positions or implied integer positions) in the PICTURE clause of COMP-5 items. If you do so, you must appropriately scale the maximal capacities listed above. For example, a data item you describe as PICTURE S99V99 COMP-5 is represented in storage as a binary halfword, and supports a range of values from -327.68 through +327.67.

Large literals in VALUE clauses: Literals specified in VALUE clauses for COMP-5 items can, with a few exceptions, contain values of magnitude up to the capacity of the native binary representation. See Enterprise COBOL for z/OS® Language Reference for the exceptions.

Regardless of the setting of the TRUNC compiler option, COMP-5 data items behave like binary data does in programs compiled with TRUNC(BIN).

PACKED-DECIMAL and COMP-3 are synonyms. Packed-decimal items occupy 1 byte of storage for every two decimal digits you code in the PICTURE description, except that the rightmost byte contains only one digit and the sign. This format is most efficient when you code an odd number of digits in the PICTURE description, so that the leftmost byte is fully used. Packed-decimal items are handled as fixed-point numbers for arithmetic purposes.

COMP-1 refers to short floating-point format and COMP-2 refers to long floating-point format, which occupy 4 and 8 bytes of storage, respectively. The leftmost bit contains the sign and the next 7 bits contain the exponent; the remaining 3 or 7 bytes contain the mantissa.

COMP-1 and COMP-2 data items are stored in System z® hexadecimal format.