IBM Mainframe Forum

Hi
In COBOL we r having 3 data types
1. Alphabetic
2. Numeric
3. Alphanumeric.
In all our applications we r using Alphanumeric in place of Alphabetic .then what is the use of alphabetic data type.
Anybody could give example where we r using Alphabetic data type.
Please Give me Suggestions
Thanks In Advance.

Hello,

Please Give me Suggestions

There are more than 3 "data types". Suggest you start here:
http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ ... 0/5.3.12.3

Then follow the links at the bottom of that page for specific info.

Also suggest you bookmark the Table of Contents of that manual (COBOL Language Reference) as you will use this very often. You might download a copy to your local system for ease of use. The flashlight/tubelight near the top left of that page is the Search for the manual.

In all our applications we r using Alphanumeric in place of Alphabetic

Rather you are most likely using alphanumeric because alphanumeric is the standard most places. There are very few purely alphabetic fields and i have not seen "pic a(nn)" other than a class exercise for a long, long time.