1.1.2 Figurative Constants
Figurative constants are reserved words that name and refer to specific
constant values. The reserved words for figurative constants and their
meanings are:
-
ZERO/ZEROS/ZEROES
-
Represents the numeric value zero (0), or one or more occurrences of
the nonnumeric character zero (0), depending on context.
When the context cannot be determined, a nonnumeric zero is used.
-
SPACE/SPACES
-
Represents one or more blanks or spaces. SPACE is treated as a
nonnumeric literal.
-
HIGH-VALUE/HIGH-VALUES
-
Represents one or more occurrences of the character that has the
highest ordinal position in the collating sequence used. For the
EBCDIC collating sequence, the character is X'FF'; for other collating
sequences, the actual character used depends on the collating sequence
indicated by the locale. For more information on locale, see
Appendix F, "Locale Considerations (Workstation Only)" in
topic APPENDIX1.6. HIGH-VALUE is treated as a nonnumeric literal.
-
LOW-VALUE/LOW-VALUES
-
Represents one or more occurrences of the character that has the
lowest ordinal position in the collating sequence used. For the
EBCDIC collating sequence, the character is X'00'; for other collating
sequences, the actual character used depends on the collating
sequence. LOW-VALUE is treated as a nonnumeric literal.
-
QUOTE/QUOTES
-
Represents one or more occurrences of:
- X The quotation mark character ("), if the QUOTE compiler option is
X in effect
X or
- X The apostrophe character ('), if the APOST compiler option is in
X effect
X QUOTE or QUOTES cannot be used in place of a quotation mark or an
X apostrophe to enclose a nonnumeric literal.
-
ALL literal
-
Represents one or more occurrences of the string of characters
composing the literal. The literal must be either a nonnumeric
literal or a figurative constant other than the ALL literal. When a
figurative constant, other than the ALL literal is used, the word ALL
is redundant and is used for readability only. The figurative
X constant ALL literal must not be used with the CALL, INSPECT, INVOKE,
STOP, or STRING statements.
-
symbolic-character
-
Represents one or more of the characters specified as a value of the
symbolic-character in the SYMBOLIC CHARACTERS clause of the
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph.
X >_Workstation_> Under AIX, OS/2, and Windows, you cannot specify the
X SYMBOLIC CHARACTER clause if a DBCS or EUC code page is indicated by
X the locale setting. For more information on locale, see Appendix F,
X "Locale Considerations (Workstation Only)" in topic APPENDIX1.6.
X <_Workstation_<
-
X NULL/NULLS
-
X Represents a value used to indicate that data items defined with USAGE
X IS POINTER, USAGE IS PROCEDURE-POINTER, USAGE IS OBJECT REFERENCE, or
X the ADDRESS OF special register do not contain a valid address. NULL
X can be used only where explicitly allowed in the syntax format. NULL
X has the value of zero.
The singular and plural forms of ZERO, SPACE, HIGH-VALUE, LOW-VALUE, and
QUOTE can be used interchangeably. For example, if data-name-1 is a
5-character data item, each of the following statements will fill
data-name-1 with five spaces:
MOVE SPACE TO DATA-NAME-1
MOVE SPACES TO DATA-NAME-1
MOVE ALL SPACES TO DATA-NAME-1
You can use a figurative constant wherever "literal" appears in a syntax
diagram, except where explicitly prohibited. When a numeric literal
appears in a syntax diagram, only the figurative constant ZERO (ZEROS,
ZEROES) can be used. Figurative constants are not allowed as function
arguments except in an arithmetic expression, where they are arguments to
a function.
The length of a figurative constant depends on the context of the program.
The following rules apply:
- When a figurative constant is specified in a VALUE clause or
associated with a data item (for example, when it is moved to or
compared with another item), the length of the figurative constant
character-string is equal to 1 or the number of character positions in
the associated data item, whichever is greater.
- When a figurative constant, other than the ALL literal, is not
X associated with another data item (for example, in a CALL, INVOKE,
STOP, STRING, or UNSTRING statement), the length of the
character-string is 1 character.
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