Positions 31-34 specify the external format for a date, time, or variable-length character, graphic, or UCS-2 field.
If this entry is blank for a date or time field, then the format/separator specified for the file (with either DATFMT or TIMFMT or both) is used. If there is no external date or time format specified for the file, then an error message is issued. See Table 33 and Table 36 for valid date and time formats.
For character, graphic, or UCS-2 data, the *VAR data attribute is used to specify variable-length input fields. If this entry is blank for character, graphic, or UCS-2 data, then the external format must be fixed length. The internal and external format must match, if the field is defined elsewhere in the program. For more information on variable-length fields, see Variable-Length Character, Graphic and UCS-2 Formats.
For more information on external formats, see Internal and External Formats.