Control Data Corporation 3300 Reference Manual page 58

3-24
Definition of Symbols Used in PICTURE
Symbol
A
x
9
P
S
V
Definition
Represents character position which can contain only a
letter or a space; it is counted in size of item.
Represents a character position containing any allowable
character from computer's character set; it is counted
in size of item.
Represents a character position which contains a
number; it is counted in the size of the item.
Indicates an assumed decimal scaling position when this
position does not occur within the number that appears
in the data item. It is not counted in the size of a
numeric data item, but it is counted in determining the
maximum size of a numeric edited item used as an
operand in an arithmetic statement. P can appear only
to the left or right in a string of one or more P's within
the character string. The assumed decimal point is
to the left of the leftmost P or to the right of the right-
most P; each P represents an implied character position
(treated as zero) between the assumed decimal point
and the leftmost character of the data item if the P's are
to the left and the rightmost character if the P's are
to the right. The assumed point location may be up
to
31 places to the right or 30 places to the left of the
rightmost digit position in the picture. The symbol V
is redundant when P is specified.
For example, a data item containing the number 2567 is
treated as 256700
if
the PICTURE is 9999PP; or as
.002567 if the PICTURE is PP9999.
Indicates the presence of an operational sign
(+
or -)
and must be written as the leftmost character of a
PICTURE string.
It
is not counted in determining the
size of an item. (This character is used for documenta-
tion purposes only.)
Indicates the location of an assumed decimal point for
aligning items during computation.
It
does not repre-
sent a character position and is not counted in determin-
ing the size of an item. V may appear only once in a
PICTURE string. V is redundant when the assumed
decimal point is to the right of the rightmost symbol in
the PICTURE string.
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