UNSIGNED (Unsigned) keyword for physical and logical files
You can use this key field-level keyword to specify that numeric fields are sequenced as a string of unsigned binary data. The default values of character, date, time, timestamp, and hexadecimal fields are set to unsigned values.
This keyword has no parameters.
UNSIGNED is valid on key fields in physical or logical files regardless of the data type of the key field. The UNSIGNED keyword is not allowed with the SIGNED and ABSVAL keywords.
The
UNSIGNED keyword will be the default in the following situations:
- When you specify ALTSEQ at the file level for a zoned key field
- When you specify ZONE or DIGIT for a zoned key field
- For all character and hexadecimal fields
Note: You can specify UNSIGNED for floating point fields, but the
results cannot be predicted.
The following figure shows six records with a zoned decimal key field:
| Record | Numeric key field (zoned decimal) | Hexadecimal representation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 98 | F9F8 |
| 2 | 00 | F0F0 |
| 3 | 98- | F9D8 |
| 4 | 97 | F9F7 |
| 5 | 20 | F2F0 |
| 6 | 99 | F9F9 |
If you specify UNSIGNED, the records are sequenced in this order:
| Record | Numeric key field (zoned decimal) | Hexadecimal representation |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 00 | F0F0 |
| 5 | 20 | F2F0 |
| 3 | 98- | F9D8 |
| 4 | 97 | F9F7 |
| 1 | 98 | F9F8 |
| 6 | 99 | F9F9 |
Example
The following example shows how to specify the UNSIGNED keyword for a physical file.
|...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7....+....8
00010A R RECORDA
00020A FLDA 7S 2
00030A FLDB 5
00040A K FLDA UNSIGNED
A