CHARACTER

Sets or queries the format used to display the data for character variables.

EBCDIC: Character variables are EBCDIC, with unprintable characters (X'00' to X'3F', X'FF') displayed as . (periods).
*: Character variables are displayed in the default format (EBCDIC).
ASCII: Character variables are ASCII, with unprintable characters displayed as . (periods).
CHARACTER: Character variables are displayed as EBCDIC or ASCII, tracking the value of the ASCII setting selected for the DUMP command. Unprintable characters are displayed as . (periods).
HEX: Character variables are displayed in hexadecimal. This mode is especially useful for buffers which are declared as CHAR and which contain non-character information.
PACKED: Character variables of less than 24 bytes are displayed in Packed Decimal format. Variables exceeding this length are displayed in hexadecimal. This mode is especially useful for examining data in a language without native Packed Decimal variables.
ZONED: Character variables of less than 48 bytes are displayed in Zoned Decimal format. Variables exceeding this length are displayed in EBCDIC. This mode is especially useful for examining data in a language without native Zoned Decimal variables.

If the display format setting is not specified, the current display format for character variables is shown in a message.

Return codes