Using EBCDIC characters and double-byte characters

Examples showing the use of EBCDIC characters and double-byte characters are given in Table 1. For a description of the DBCS notation used in the examples, see Double-byte character set notation.

Table 1. Examples using character set
Characters	Usage	Example	Constituting
Alphanumeric	In ordinary symbols	`Label FIELD#01 Save_Total &EASY_TO_READ`	Terms
	In variable symbols	`&EASY_TO_READ`
Digits	As decimal self-defining terms	`1 9`	Terms
Special Characters	As operators
+	Addition	`NINE+FIVE`	Expressions
-	Subtraction	`NINE-5`	Expressions
`*`	Multiplication	`9*FIVE`	Expressions
`/`	Division	`TEN/3`	Expressions
+ or -	(Unary)	`+NINE -FIVE`	Terms¹
	As delimiters
Spaces	Between fields	`LABEL AR 3,4`	Statement
Comma	Between operands	`OPND1,OPND2`	Operand field
Apostrophes	Enclosing character strings	`'STRING'`	String
	Attribute operator	`L'OPND1`	Term
Parentheses	Enclosing subfields or subexpressions	`MOVE MVC TO(80),FROM(A+B*(C-D))`	Statement expression
SO and SI	Enclosing double-byte data	`C'<.A.B.C>abc' G'<D1D2D3D4>'`	Mixed string Pure DBCS
	As indicators for
Ampersand	Variable symbol	`&VAR`	Term
Period	Symbol qualifier	`QUAL.SYMBOL`	Term
	Sequence symbol	`.SEQ`	(label)
	Comment statement in macro definition	`.*THIS IS A COMMENT`	Statement
	Concatenation	`&VAR.A`	Term
	Bit-length specification	`DC CL.7'AB'`	Operand
	Decimal point	`DC F'1.7E4'`	Operand
Asterisk	Location counter reference	`*+72`	Expression
	Comment statement	`*THIS IS A COMMENT`	Operand
Equal sign	Literal reference	`L 6,=F'2'`	Operand
	Keyword	`&KEY=D`	Keyword parameter
Note: If these are passed as macro arguments, they are treated as expressions, not terms. Expressions cannot be substituted into SETA expressions.