Constants

You can specify a value explicitly by writing a string constant, an integer constant, or a floating-point constant.

String constant

A string constant is a sequence of zero or more characters enclosed within apostrophes ('). The sequence can contain any characters. You must add one apostrophe (') before the sequence and another apostrophe (') after the sequence. See the following examples:

'A 2'
'a:b'
''

A string constant represents the character string within the enclosing apostrophes. Therefore, the first two constants in the example represent the strings A 2 and a:b. The first string contains a blank in the middle. The last example is a sequence of zero characters that represents an empty string.

A string constant might contain sequences of double-byte characters, each enclosed between shift-out (SO, x'0E' in EBCDIC) and shift-in (SI, x'0F' in EBCDIC) characters. The apostrophes are single-byte characters and are recognized outside a double-byte sequence.

The maximum length of a string that is represented by a string constant is 254 bytes, which includes any shift-out and shift-in characters that enclose sequences of double-byte characters.

Integer constant

An integer constant is a sequence of one or more digits. See the following examples:

An integer constant represents a whole number in decimal notation. The number must be no greater than 2,147,483,647, and no smaller than -2,147,483,648. The maximum length of a constant is 32 characters.

Floating-point constant

A floating-point constant is a sequence of one or more digits followed by a decimal point with zero or more digits, and optionally followed by an E and a signed or unsigned number of at most 2 digits. See the following examples:

25.5
1000.
0.0
37589.33333
15E1 		
2.5E5		
2.2E-1 		
5.E+22

A floating-point constant represents a 64-bit floating-point number of S/390® architecture. The number is represented in decimal notation, with Enn meaning multiplied by 10 to power nn. For example, 2.5E5 means 2.5*10⁵, and 2.2E-1 means 2.2*10^-1. The specified value is rounded to the closest value that can be represented as a 64-bit floating-point number.

The number must not exceed 16⁶³-16⁴⁹, which is approximately 7.2E75. The smallest value different from 0 is 16^-65, which is approximately 54.E-79. The maximum length of a constant is 32 characters.

Integer constants or floating-point constants can represent non-negative numbers only. To represent a negative number, add a minus operator (-) in front of the constant.