IBM Mainframe Forum

Posted: **Tue Jul 26, 2016 11:19 am**

what is the difference between below variable definition.

 WS-D1-TIME          PIC 9(11)-.
 WS-D1-TIME          PIC 9(11).
 

As in the first variable declaration there is a '-' hyphen in the last.
Please let me know.
Thanks in advance.

Posted: **Tue Jul 26, 2016 11:40 am**

Have you consulted the Enterprise COBOL Language Reference, the section on PICture Strings?

Posted: **Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:27 pm**

BillyBoyo wrote:Have you consulted the Enterprise COBOL Language Reference, the section on PICture Strings?

yes I go thru this( as I mentioned below)....but not able to get

http://ibmmainframes.com/references/a266.html

Posted: **Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:46 pm**

That is not the Enterprise COBOL Language Reference.

However, even there it has a description (a bit vague) of what +/- mean.

Posted: **Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:12 pm**

You need to read the http://publibfp.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/igy6lr10.pdf manual (as otherwise suggested) and more specifically the Fixed Insertion Editing section starting on page 216.

What does this COBOL declaration mean?