level 88 condition with short alphanumeric literal VALUE

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mhoward
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Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2017 8:58 pm

level 88 condition with short alphanumeric literal VALUE

Post by mhoward » Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:24 pm

I have a copybook with a fragment using a level 88 conditional flag.
It says:

Code: Select all

   ...
   10 RECORD-TYPE-INDICATOR PIC X(2).
        88 HEADER-FLAG  VALUE 'H'.
        88 DETAIL-FLAG  VALUE 'DT'.
        88 TRAILER-FLAG VALUE 'T'.
   ...
Note that the RECORD-TYPE-INDICATOR is 2 chars.
Note that the HEADER-FLAG and TRAILER-FLAG literal VALUEs are a single char.

I was surprised to see this, because I assumed that the conditional flag literal would have to be the same length as the associated alphanumeric item.

IBM Enterprise COBOL 4.2 reference manual says
the number of characters in the literal must not exceed the size of the item.
HP COBOL reference manual says:
If you specify a nonnumeric literal value, it must not exceed the size defined by the data item’s PICTURE clause.
I cannot find a definitive description of the behavior when the conditional VALUE literal is shorter than the associated alphanumeric item.

Q: What VALUE(s) in the RECORD-TYPE-INDICATOR will set the HEADER-TYPE condition name?

a. 'HH'
b. anything starting with 'H'.
c. 'H ' ... H followed by a space
d. something else?


Thanks!
Michael

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