TIMSEP (Time Separator) keyword for display files

You use this field-level keyword to specify the separator character used for a time field. This keyword is valid only for time fields (data type T).

The format of the keyword is:

TIMSEP(*JOB | 'time-separator')

The time-separator parameter specifies the separator character that appears between the hour, minute, and second values. Valid values are a colon (:), a period (.), a comma (,), and a blank ( ). Single quotation marks must enclose the parameter.

If you specify the *ISO, *USA, *EUR, or *JIS time-format values for the TIMFMT keyword, you should not specify the TIMSEP keyword. These formats have fixed separators.

If you do not specify the TIMSEP keyword and you specify TIMFMT as a format that does not have a fixed date separator, TIMSEP is set to *JOB as default.

If you specify *JOB or if TIMSEP is set to *JOB as default, the high-level language and the application handle the separator as a colon (:). On output the system converts the separator that was specified by the Time Separator Job Definition Attribute. On input, the system converts the separator to a colon (:) before passing control to the application.

The separator for DFT, DFTVAL, and MAPVAL keyword values must match the separator that the TIMSEP keyword specifies. If the TIMSEP keyword specifies *JOB the TIMSEP keyword is set to *JOB as default, these values must a colon ':' format.

The TIMSEP keyword overrides the job attribute for a time field. It does not change the system default.

It is the responsibility of the high-level language and the application format the time field according to the format specified for the TIMFMT keyword and use the separators specified for the TIMSEP keyword. The system does format fields on output. The system validates the time field on input according to the format that the TIMFMT keyword specifies and the separator that the TIMSEP keyword specifies.

Option indicators are not valid for this keyword, although you can use option indicators to condition the field for which it is specified.

Example

The following example shows how to specify the TIMSEP keyword.

|...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7....+....8
00010A
00020A          R RECORD
00030A            TIMFLD1         T         TIMFMT(*HMS) TIMSEP(' ')
00040A            TIMFLD2         T         TIMFMT(*HMS) TIMSEP('.')
00050A            TIMFLD3         T         TIMFMT(*HMS) TIMSEP(*JOB)

If you want to display 2 o'clock p.m. and the time separator that is defined by the Definition Attribute is :, the following values are displayed when RECORD1 appears.

TIMFLD1    14 00 00
TIMFLD2    14.00.00
TIMFLD3    14:00:00