The PICTURE Clause (DBCS)

General Rules
  1. There are two additional categories of data that can be described with a PICTURE clause: DBCS and DBCS edited. Both these categories must be described as USAGE IS DISPLAY-1.

    MF These categories need not be described as USAGE DISPLAY-1.

    COB370 DISPLAY-1 is optional for PIC N, but not for PIC G items.

  2. Rules for DBCS Data
  3. Its PICTURE character-string can contain only the symbol "G"

    MFCOB370 or "N".

  4. Its contents can be any characters in the DBCS character set.
  5. Rule for DBCS Edited Data
  6. Its PICTURE character string can contain any combination of the symbols "G" and "B".
  7. Editing Rules
  8. The type of editing that can be performed on an item depends on the category to which the item belongs. The table Editing Types for Data Categories in the topic The PICTURE Clause is extended with the information shown in Table 4-1 below:
    Category Type of Editing
    DBCS None
    DBCS Edited Simple insertion "B" only
    Table 4-1: Editing Types for Data Categories
  9. Fixed Insertion Editing
  10. When used in an SBCS item, "B" (space) represents an SBCS space. When used in a DBCS item it represents a DBCS space.
Symbols Used

The functions of these symbols are as follows:

G - Each "G" represents a character position which can contain only a DBCS character or a DBCS space.
B - Each "B" represents a character position into which the DBCS space character will be inserted.

MFCOB370 N -

Each "N" represents a character position which can contain only a DBCS character or a DBCS space.

Note that each "G" or "B"

ANS85 or "N"

represents a single double-byte character position.