Binary-string constants

The two forms of a binary-string constant are:

• A BX followed by a sequence of characters that starts and ends with a string delimiter. The characters between the string delimiters must be an even number of hexadecimal digits. Blanks between the string delimiters are ignored. The number of hexadecimal digits must not exceed 32740. A hexadecimal digit is a digit or any of the letters A through F (uppercase or lowercase).
• An X followed by a sequence of characters that starts and ends with a string delimiter. The characters between the string delimiters must be an even number of hexadecimal digits. Blanks between the string delimiters are ignored. The number of hexadecimal digits must not exceed 32740. A hexadecimal digit is a digit or any of the letters A through F (uppercase or lowercase).

The CCSID assigned to the constant is 65535.

Note that the syntax of the second form of binary string constant is identical to the second form of a character constant. A constant of this form is only treated as a binary string constant if the standards option is specified. For information on the standards option, see Standards compliance.