HP DDL D40 Reference Manual page 177

Definition Attributes
If you specify a datetime-literal or an interval-literal for a character
field, DDL treats the literal as a regular character string. In such a case, DDL does
not check the syntax and semantics of the string.
If you specify a datetime-literal or an interval-literal for a numeric
field, DDL returns an error.
VALUE ZERO and VALUE ZEROES cannot be specified for SQL DATETIME and
SQL INTERVAL line items.
SYSTEM is valid only for elementary fields of any type. If the type was previously
defined, the definition must be a field definition.
When the VALUES clause is specified and DDL is generating source code for C,
FORTRAN, pTAL, or TAL, the compiler translates any initial values into comments.
When DDL is generating Pascal or TACL source code, it ignores the VALUES
clause.
For C and Pascal, a NOVALUES clause on a group definition has no effect on
subgroups defined by reference to other groups.
CURRENT is valid only for elementary fields of type SQL DATETIME. If the type
was previously defined, the definition must be a field definition with an SQL
DATETIME type specified.
SQLNULL is valid only for SQL-nullable elementary line items (that is, SQL items
that are not specified as NOT NULL). If the type was previously defined, the
definition must be an SQL-nullable field definition.
The values SYSTEM, CURRENT, and SQLNULL cannot be specified in a MUST
BE clause, an 88 condition-name clause, or an 89 enumeration clause
If you specify a MUST BE clause and VALUE SYSTEM for the same item, DDL
does not check the value SYSTEM against the specified MUST BE constraint.
Similarly, if you specify a MUST BE clause and VALUE SQLNULL for the same
item, DDL does not check the value SQLNULL against the specified MUST BE
constraint.
VALUE Clause Examples
The following examples assign initial values to a field and a group definition:
DEF price
DEF name
02 last
02 first
02 midinit
END
Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference Manual—426798-002
PIC 9(5)V99 VALUE IS ZERO.
VALUE SPACES.
PIC X(20).
PIC X(12).
PIC X(2).
6- 83
VALUE Clause