Numeric host variables

The COBOL format for binary numeric data is USAGE BINARY. BINARY, COMP, and COMP-4 are synonyms. Binary-format numbers occupy 2, 4, or 8 bytes of storage.

For COBOL, 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.

In COBOL, decimal numbers can be represented in the following formats:

• Packed decimal format, denoted by USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL or COMP-3
• External decimal format, denoted by USAGE DISPLAY with SIGN LEADING SEPARATE